Naruto: Konoha's Red Thunder
by jrvegeeta
Summary: After Naruto becomes cornered by an angry mob at a young age, a man with strange lightning powers saves his life. However, in the same night, it is discovered that the Naruto himself has powers of his own... NARUxINOxSAKURA Other pairings will follow
1. Chapter 1 Shocking Truth

Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto...(glares at lawyers)...so get lost.**

**Chapter 1: Shocking Truth**

It was night time in Konoha, otherwise known as the Hidden Leaf Village. Unfortunately, it wasn't as quiet as it should be. Shouts and yells could be heard. The villagers were drunk with rage as they chased a young blond-haired boy in an orange jump suit through the streets, trying to end his life.

That boy is Naruto Uzumaki.

Why were they doing this? Because to them, he was the beast that made them feel so helpless 10 years ago – the Kyubi, AKA the Nine-tailed Fox. Ever since the boy could remember, the villagers were always trying to kill him. Despite the Sandaime's law and his protection, the villagers continued to ignore the facts: The boy was not the Kyubi and that the Yondaime asked that he be treated like a hero.

"Kill the demon!"

"Die, monster!"

"You'll pay for everything you've done to us!"

These were just a few of the comments the villagers screamed as they chased the boy through the streets.

_'Why do they hate me?' _Naruto continued to ask himself. He had been asking himself this question for years and for whatever reason, the villagers would always respond with, 'You know what you did, you horrible beast!' or similar comments. The boy was so caught up in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to were he was going, taking a turn into an alley – a dead end alley. Naruto froze with fear upon realizing his mistake. He started to turn around to head out of the alley when the villagers rounded the corner, trapping him. His eyes widened in terror as he looked at the faces of the villagers. They had grins on their faces. Very cruel grins.

"We finally cornered you, demon brat!" the lead villager cackled. "I would ask you if you had any last words, but we only give those rights to human beings. Now then..." The villagers began to walk towards the boy with numerous weapons in hand, ranging from pitch forks to actual samurai swords. There were even a few ninjas in the crowd, although they were very few and far in between since the majority of the ninja population didn't see the boy as the demon due to most of them having at least a basic understanding of sealing.

Just as the villagers were about to attack the helpless boy, there was a flash of lightning. The mob was caught by surprise. _'What the hell? Lightning? The skies are clear tonight...' _Was the thought of most of them. They turned their attention back to the boy...only to find a man standing between them and Naruto. The man in front of them had what looked to be a yellow and black sports bike jacket with black pants made out of the same material. He had a goatee with an almost shaved head. That's not what got the attention of the mob, however. It was the forehead protector that he wore indicating that he was a shinobi. It had the leaf symbol, but also had a whirlpool-like design next to it.

"There better be a good reason why you fools are trying to hurt a 10 year-old kid." Came the man's low gruff voice. Most of the villagers looked into his eyes and froze in fear. They could have sworn that they saw his eyes glow, but not just from anger. The chunin in the crowd stepped towards him with kunai drawn.

"What are you doing here, Maelstrom trash?" the lead chunin demanded.

"...You didn't answer my question." The man responded, ignoring the insult. Seeing that the man wasn't going to answer his question without giving him an explanation, the chunin decided to answer.

"That boy is a demon. He must die!"

The man heatedly stared him down. The shinobi were sweating a little. It was obvious that he didn't like their answer.

"The kid doesn't look like a demon to me." He responded in a low dangerous tone.

"What would you know, fool? He's obviously the Kyubi in human for-" the chunin began to shout but stopped when he saw the man's eyes glow light blue. It then dawned on him what he just said and paled a sickly white color.

"You–" the man pointed to the now pale chunin with the big mouth. "–just broke the Hokage's biggest law, you stupid jackass. That now makes you an S-class criminal."

A stream of lightning shot out of his hands and hit the chunin dead on, dropping him to the ground. The other chunin leapt forward to attack him, only to find themselves struck with bolts of lightning and fell to the ground, their bodies completely numb. The man looked up at the mob of frightened villagers.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of who this kid is. In fact, I happen to know where half of his family originated from. Be thankful none of them are in this village, or you wouldn't live past this week. Now SCRAM!" He barked.

The villagers didn't need to be told twice as they scurried away like cockroaches did when the lights came on in a kitchen. Sensing that they were no longer in danger, the man went to each of the chunin and used a kind of restraint made of electricity on them. After he finished securing the last chunin, he turned towards the boy. The boy was a little scared of the man's appearance, but his fears were put to rest when the man kneeled down to his level.

"You OK, kid?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. The man smiled. The boy then remembered what he said earlier.

"Is it true you know who my family is, lightning-san?" Naruto asked with hope in his eyes. The man chuckled at the nickname the boy gave him and nodded.

"Yeah I do, kid. The name's Cole MacGrath by the way." At that moment, three ANBU agents showed up - one with a dog mask that had silver hair, one with a cat mask that had long purple hair, and one with a snake mask that had short purple hair.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" dog asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm ok dog-san. If it weren't for this guy, the villagers would have gotten me this time." Naruto said. Dog nodded and then looked at the downed chunin. He then turned towards Cole.

"Care to explain why these chunin are in lala land at the moment, Cole-san?"

"These bastards were leading the group of ingrates that were trying to kill the kid. That one..." Cole pointed towards the leader. "...broke Lord hokage's law pertaining to the boy.

"You think I care about that stupid law the old fool came up with? Every person in this village deserves to know who killed the 4th and the families of the ninja involved!" the lead chunin sneered. He was about to say something else when he felt the hairs on his skin start to stand up.

"What you're feeling right now is a prelude to a lightning strike. That's twice you have pissed me off tonight. Do it a third time..." Cole threatened in a icy cold tone. The chunin's eyes widened in fear. Cole didn't have to finish his threat as it was perfectly clear to the chunin what would happen. He then turned his attention back to the ANBU.

"I'm going to take Naruto to have a talk with the old man. I'm getting tired of hearing about what these idiots do to him. He deserves to know about his heritage and...his tenant." said Cole.

The three ANBU seemed somewhat alarmed. Telling the boy about his parents is fairly dangerous in its own right. However, telling the boy about the Kyubi he holds could have grave consequences for Konoha in general.

"I understand what could possibly happen, but let's not forget, that moron you now have in custody already opened his big mouth. If anything, not telling the kid and letting him find out on his own would be the worst case scenario for everyone...especially Naruto." Cole said. Dog thought about it for a while.

"Dog...he has a point." Cat finally spoke up. "He's suffered so much for something he never had a say in or had control of. He deserves to know what happened."

"I agree with cat, lazy ass." came snake. "The villagers and a few idiots in our ranks have no idea how a seal works. Sensei wasn't very happy when that bill on teaching civilians about seals got shoot down by that old fool Danzo and a few of his civilian toadies. I've heard what this kid wants to be when he grows up and he'll never accomplish that if he doesn't even know what the hell's in his own body."

Dog lets out a sigh, finally giving in. "Alright, Cole-san. You may go see Hokage-sama about this and request that the boy know...everything. However, make sure that no one else is around before you discuss this with the Sandaime. In the meantime, we'll deal with this trash."

Cole nodded, then turned to Naruto. "Alright kid. We're headed to the Hokage tower. There's some things that you need to be told by the old man." Naruto simply nodded as he and Cole took off.

XXXX

Sarutobi was enjoying a night of peace and quiet. He had finished his paperwork and was now reading his favorite smut. He let out a perverted giggle. His student really did write some kinky stories. He then heard a knock at the door. He stiffened a bit, but calmly put his book away and went into 'kage mode'.

"Come in." Sarutobi said with authority. The door opened to reveal two of his favorite people in the village.

"Old man, we may have a problem." Cole informed. Sarutobi looked at Naruto and saw that he had a few cuts on his body. He also saw the look the boy had on his face. It was the face a child would make when they discovered the truth about Santa Claus. Sarutobi put 2 and 2 together and sighed. This was going to be a _very _long night and for once, the paperwork wasn't the prime suspect.

"Somebody broke my law, didn't they?"

At this, Cole nodded. "Some moronic chunin blurted it out while I was protecting Naruto from a mob of ingrates that were trying to kill him. I know you're just trying to protect him, but he's heard too much. I think it's time he knew about..._her._"

Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was something that he had hoped he wouldn't have to explain to the boy until he became a ninja, but it seems that Kami has other plans. Sarutobi let out a deep sigh before he began to speak.

"Naruto-kun, what do you know about the Kyubi?"

Naruto simply looked at the kage for a few seconds before answering, "I know that the Yondaime killed the fox, but lost his own life in doing so. What's that have to do with me, jiji?"

"Naruto..." the old kage began, but paused to think about how to break this to the boy. He wanted to be sure that there was no misunderstanding. Sarutobi took a deep breath before continuing.

"...that story isn't entirely accurate. Yes, the Yondaime did face off against the Kyubi, but he didn't kill it. Since the Kyubi is a tailed beast, it can't be killed by conventional methods. He was working on a method to seal Kyubi inside himself, but because the attack came sooner than expected, he fell one month short of finishing that particular sealing jutsu. The Yondaime had no other choice but to seal it into another human." Naruto looked a bit sad upon hearing that.

"That must have been hard for that person to have to deal with a demon inside them. Still, I can understand why the Yondaime did what he had to do. It was either him and the human sacrifice or the whole village. I feel sorry for both of them." the boy said in a sad tone.

Sarutobi smiled sadly at the boys words and was mentally relieved. The boy will be able to handle what he says next. Granted, he will be shocked and a bit down on himself for a moment, but the old kage would make sure that the boy knew the truth and not that garbage that Danzo spewed out to the civilian population.

"Naruto...because that sealing jutsu wasn't completed in time, the Yondaime's alternate seal had some restrictions. The host had to be someone else as I mentioned before, but the other stipulation was that the human sacrifice had to be a new born baby...his son."

Naruto froze when he heard this. He knows that he was born on October 10, the same day as the Kyubi attack. Ever since he could remember, he had gotten hate-filled glares, shouts of 'demon' and 'monster', and was even attacked. He also noticed how much he looked like the Yondaime. Despite his hyper exterior and goofiness, Naruto was actually quite intelligent. Still, it was a shock nevertheless.

"That baby was me, wasn't it?" Naruto barely said above a whisper. Sarutobi was taken by surprise by the boy's answer. Granted, he felt that Naruto wasn't stupid, but the old kage didn't think that he was this intelligent, either. He made a mental note to give the boy a private IQ test before entering the academy. The boy seemed to be hiding his intelligence and he wasn't going to risk betraying the boy's personal reasons for doing so. Turning his attention back to the topic at hand, he responded to Naruto's question by nodding.

"Naruto...I know you are an intelligent boy, but let me make this clear to you: You are NOT the Kyubi. Those fools that keep calling you that have no idea how seals work. If they did, I would wager that at least half of them would respect your sacrifice. Also, you're father only picked you because he felt that only you would be strong enough to handle this power without letting it go to your head." Sarutobi exclaimed. Naruto seemed to ponder this for a moment before finally nodding, telling Sarutobi that he understood.

Naruto understood that he wasn't the Kyubi, but he did have one question. "jiji, if some of the villagers would have respected me if they had a basic understanding of seals, then why don't you make basic seal studies a mandatory course in civilian schools as well as the ninja academy?"

"I actually tried to do that, Naruto. Unfortunately, a man named Danzo and a select few council members on the civilian council vetoed my bill. I can tell you that the shinobi council wasn't very happy to see that bill go up in flames." Sarutobi explained with a frown upon mentioning the name of his political advisory. _'_

"They weren't the only ones, kid." Cole added. "Master Jiraiya and master Orochimaru were pissed off about that bullshit Danzo pulled. Unfortunately, master Jiraiya had to be sent out on a long term mission, but at least master Orochimaru stuck around to devote some of his time to teach part-time at the academy about seals to students who were even remotely interested."

Sarutobi nodded in agreement. He couldn't help but be proud of Orochimaru. He was on the verge of darkness, but something caused him to give up his controversial experiments and walk back into the path of the light. He even turned down the position of Hokage, believing that he wasn't deserving of such a title.

"How do you feel about all of this, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.

"To be totally honest, I'm not entirely happy about what my dad did, but I don't hate him. In fact, I think he's a hero for what he had to do." Naruto responded, meaning every bit of it. Granted, he would probably punch the guy in the gut if he ever met him for sealing a demon fox inside him, but right after that, he would give him a hug. The boy was happy that his father had faith in him to be the Kyubi's jailer. The blond haired hokage was and still is the reason he wants to attain that very same title one day.

"I am glad to hear that, Naruto-kun. I will say that not many people could handle the kind of information that you just learn tonight. When it comes to becoming hokage, you have the right attitude." Sarutobi said with a smile. Naruto gave the old kage his trademark fox grin. That's when the boy noticed an exposed wire sticking out of the floor.

"Hey old man, why do you have a wire sticking out of the floor." Naruto questioned as he reached down to pull on the wire a bit to see what it lead to. Sarutobi and Cole look to see what the boy was talking about and were stunned at what they saw. Naruto had what looked to be a barely noticeable electrical current going through him. At first, they thought he was being electrocuted, but after a few seconds, they saw by his facial expression; It looked like he was trying to make sense of something. After a short moment, a small 'ZAP' could be heard. Naruto let go of the wire and slowly looked up at Cole and the Sandaime.

"Uhh...jiji...I don't know how to explain this, but I think you need to confront that Danzo guy about putting spy equipment in your office." Naruto explained with a slightly confused look on his face.

While Sarutobi was still a bit stunned at what just happened, Cole had a good idea what was going on. _'So...he did inherit it after all. Based on what he just said and that look on his face, this is probably the first time he's used his power or it's the first time he's ever noticed it. Looks like the kid is going to have to know about his mother, too.'_

"Naruto..." Cole spoke up, breaking the brief silence. "I know you're confused. Trust me...I've been through what you are going through right now."

_'Although in my case, discovering my powers cost thousands of people their lives.'_ Cole thought sadly. Seeing that the boy and even Sarutobi were waiting for him to say more, he continued, "Naruto, the power that you have...is what you guys call a kekkei genkai."

This shocked both the young and the old. Sarutobi was the first to recover. "I...I don't see how that's even possible. Minato never showed signs that he had a kekkei genkai."

"That's because it doesn't come from Minato, old man..." Cole responded, leaving the rest for them to figure out.

"My mom..." Naruto whispered. He turned to Cole and gave him a pleading look – a look Cole assumed meant 'please tell me about my mother'.

"Naruto, what do you know about Uzushiogakure?" Sarutobi spoke up. Naruto was silent for a moment before finally answering.

"I read a brief history about it in the shinobi archives. It was a village on the verge of becoming the 6th great shinobi nation when it was destroyed by the Hidden Rock Village. What's this have to do with my mom?" Naruto asked.

"Trust me kid, the Hidden Maelstrom Village has everything to do with your mother...because that's where she is from." Cole explained. Seeing that he had Naruto undivided attention, he continued, "As I mentioned earlier, the Hidden Maelstrom Village was invaded and destroyed by Rock during the 3rd ninja war. What makes it worse is that it was an unprovoked attack since the Maelstrom had made it clear that they wanted no part in the war whatsoever and stayed neutral."

"So why did Iwa attack if Uzushio didn't side with anyone?" Naruto asked.

"...Because the ruling tsuchikage during that time was a war monger. Hell, the Leaf village only entered the fray near the end of the war when the Rock sent Minato a scroll declaring war against the leaf for no other reason than that the leaf was too peaceful."

Naruto didn't verbally respond, but it was clear to Cole that he was upset. _'If he thought that was bad, he's __really__ not going to like this next part.'_

"The Leaf finally managed to help end the war, but it came at a price. The tsuchikage felt that the Leaf wasn't being aggressive enough so they did the most deplorable act that any military could do: they invaded a town close to the edge of Fire Country that had no military might whatsoever and killed everyone in the village."

"...you...you mean...?" Naruto gasped in horror. Cole nodded sadly.

"...yes. Everyone. The sick bastards even broke in to the town hospital and killed everyone there. Even two rooms filled with newborns were..." Cole couldn't even finish. Even after all of these years, it still made him sick to his stomach. It was one of the reasons why he swore to kill the 3rd tsuchikage and anyone loyal to him if he ever got the chance.

"...Those inhuman bastards..." Naruto hissed, he voice dripping with venom. If it was one thing the boy couldn't stand, it was people who attacked innocent and defenseless people.

"No argument there, kid. It was one of the most horrible things that I have ever seen and heard. That reason is why Minato decided to stop playing nice. The second he found out which battalion invaded that town, he hunted them down."

"Wait...dad went after them without backup?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Believe me kid; he didn't need backup. Once he found their camp, he offered them one chance to surrender since they were still in Fire Country. The leader, who just happened to be their head jonin of the Rock village, spat in his face and told him that his battalion was going to raze one village every three days until the Leaf surrendered and force them hand over all of their civilian women and kunoichis."

Naruto was beginning to hate the 3rd Tsuchikage and any people who were loyal to the bastard, which was saying something since Naruto doesn't even hate anyone. Even the villagers that abused him haven't even made it on to his shit list.

"Don't worry, kid. Those bastards got what they deserved. Minato used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, killing almost every ninja in that battalion in less than 20 seconds flat, but I'll have to tell you the entire story another time since we are getting off track here."

"Back to the destruction of Maelstrom, Rock didn't just send a whole bunch of ninja in there. Remember, Hidden Maelstrom was on the brink of becoming a great shinobi nation since they already had more military might than most of the great 5 except the Leaf. The Rock decided that it would be best to use something to cut their numbers down dramatically. Something I never expected to show up in this world."

"What?" Naruto asked. Cole didn't say anything, but Naruto and Sarutobi could tell that he had some strong emotions for whatever this weapon was. After a silent moment, Cole finally answered, but his voiced was dripping with hatred.

"...The Ray Sphere."

"The what?" Naruto inquired with a raised eyebrow. Even Sarutobi looked slightly puzzled. Seeing that the boy and the old kage had no idea what he was talking about, he elaborated, albeit reluctantly.

"The Ray Sphere is a device that is designed to infuse a person with powers well beyond the capabilities of most humans. It's...the reason I have my powers."

"If this thing does that, then how could it have destroyed half a village?" Naruto asked.

"The Ray Sphere grants random powers to whoever activates it, but at a very high price. Once activated, the device levels anything within a 3 mile range. It took the energy of all of the people caught in the blast radius and transferred it to the person who activated the sphere." 

"Cole-san, if I remember correctly, the Uzukage tower was at the center of the blast." Sarutobi stated.

"You're right, old man, it was. The Tsuchikage sent the damn thing to the Uzukage as a '_peace offering'_. Technically, the Uzukage took the lives of most of the Maelstrom ninja, but the Uzukage was unaware of what the thing could do. However, we all know that the Tsuchikage was the one responsible for what happened so the remnants of Maelstrom and pretty much nearly everyone else in the ninja world never blamed our leader." Cole explained.

"If I may ask Cole-san, where was my mother during all this?" Naruto asked. Naruto saw Cole tense up a little at the question. Something told the boy that the lightning user's answer was going to be a doozy...and he was right.

"Your mother, Kushina...was in Uzukage tower." Cole said in somewhat grave voice.

Naruto froze, his eyes going wide with shock. At that moment, all of the puzzle pieces came together, giving him the entire picture.

"My mother...was the Uzukage." Naruto nearly whispered still in shock over hearing who his mother was. Despite the situation, both Cole and the Sandaime continued to be impressed with Naruto's intelligence.

"That's right, Naruto-kun. Your mother was one of the strongest ninja alive." Sarutobi confirmed. Naruto came out of his shock enough to continue to listen.

"Was? Is she..." Naruto began to ask, but stopped short of saying the word he didn't want to say. He just found out about who his parents are. He was ready to admit that he was truly alone.

"We don't know, kid." Cole answered somewhat unsurely. "After the war ended, she married your dad in secret. During the Kyubi attack, she gave birth to you. She was in good condition when we left her to go defend the village. After the battle, however, we found her hospital room in complete ruins with blood all over the place. We weren't able to identify any of the blood at the scene, but there is one thing that we are sure of: none of it matched your mother's blood."

"So you mean...?" Naruto said with hope in his voice.

"I do believe that she's alive, kid. However..." Cole paused. It was obvious that even he was having a hard time with explaining this. "...her whereabouts are unknown. Almost every Maelstrom ninja that I've talked to have no idea where she is either. I suspect that a couple of them know _something_, but if they do, they've refused to tell me."

"Naruto-kun." Naruto turned towards the Sandaime, who hands him 2 scrolls. "Your parents instructed me to give you these when you learn the truth about the Kyubi. I would image that there are some private things in there so please read them when nobody else is around. Your heritage must be kept a secret for as long as possible until you are able to defend yourself effectively." Naruto nodded, putting the scrolls in his pocket so that he could read them later.

"Is there anything else, jiji?" Naruto inquired. The hokage shook his head.

"That should be everything, Naruto-kun. Go on home and get some rest."

"Ok, jiji." the boy then turned his attention to Cole. "Will I see you again, Cole-san?"

Cole nodded. "Yeah, you'll see me again, kid."

_'Sooner than you think if things go right, kid.' _Cole thought. Naruto bowed to both men and jumped out the window. Sarutobi could only shake his head.

"I swear, the boy is like the two of my students – they never use the door." Cole could only chuckle. _'That's funny, because Lady Uzukage always used to complain why most of her ANBU came through the front door when they were suppose to be black-ops members.'_ After a moment, he moved past the thought and focused on the old kage in front of him.

Sarutobi gave Cole a odd look. "You didn't tell him about..."

"...I know," Cole said in a low voice. "but if I tell him, it may lead to...certain things that he's not ready to learn at this time. In all honesty, some of it is still weird even after all these years."

Sarutobi nodded in understanding. Cole should have actually been dead back in his 'world'. He had, in fact, activated the Ray Field inhibitor, a device designed to remove the conduit gene from a living person, in order to stop the beast. The device was suppose to kill all conduits on the planet, but instead, he ended up in this world.

That's when he had been found by ninja from Uzushio. Seeing that he had no other choice, Cole went to see Kushina, the Uzukage of Uzushiogakure. After he told his story, Kushina believed that he could be a valuable asset to the village and let him become a shinobi of Uzushio. However, half a decade later, Cole was sent on a mission to investigate a strange phenomenon near a small village on the boarder of Whirlpool and Fire country. When he had arrived, he was told that the strange invent was coming from a lab on the far end of town. When he arrived at the lab and entered, he was unprepared for the person that he saw.

Kessler.

At first, Cole was about to nearly fly off the handle since Kessler was the main reason for most of the problems he had experienced. However, that changed when he realized the state his old enemy was in – he was dying.

**Flashback**

"_Just how the hell did you survive, you bastard!" Cole yelled as he began charging up a magnum bolt. Kessler noticed this, but instead of taunt Cole like he head done in their past encounters, he gave a deep, but sickly sigh._

"_Don't bother, Cole. I don't have long for this world...or any world for that matter." _

"_You've died before, Kessler." Cole shot back, still on guard._

"_To be perfectly honest, I was suppose to die after our battle. Obviously, that wasn't the case. When you defeated me, my particles scattered before disappearing, I presume."_

"_...yeah, that did happen." Cole carefully replied. "That still doesn't explain why you are alive."_

"_In a way, it does. That said, I honestly didn't think it was possible to end up across dimensions." Kessler then narrowed his eyes at Cole. "Speaking of which...how did you end up here? You didn't lose to the beast, did you?"_

"_...No, I beat him. In fact, it was **your** Ray Sphere that created it in the first place!" Cole yelled. However, to the young conduit's surprise, Kessler's eyes widen considerably in shock._

"_...No...that's not possible. The beast showed up in my timeline as well..." the old man muttered._

_Despite his extreme dislike for the man in front of him, Cole took in what Kessler told him and gave it some thought. He then decided to actually ask about the man's past. "Was there anything like the Ray Sphere your first time through?"_

_Kessler gave him a nod. "Yes, there was. The first time I heard of it's existence was when a company based in Boston called 'Massive Dynamic' began developing it."_

"_Who the hell is 'Massive Dynamic'? I've never heard of that company before in Boston." Cole responded, slightly confused._

"_I know, and there is a reason for that, but I'll get to it in a minute. To answer your question, Massive Dynamic was a tech research facility...but not just any tech research facility...they researched things that most consider to be nothing more than theories – you know it as fringe science."_

"_The hell?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "They were THAT open about what they did? Was the government involved?"_

"_Not really. The general public thought they were just a regular technology research facility – which isn't a lie. They researched things like the average number of concussions NFL players sustain and help develop the helmets to reduce or prevent them."_

_'And to think, I was actually offered a football scholarship to play at Empire State. Too bad nobody in my timeline was researching that sort of thing...' Cole silently mused._

_Kessler looked right at him and slightly smirked. "Yes, it was too bad. You would have been their most celebrated running back since 1967." _

_Cole looked a bit creeped out, but Kessler waved that off. "I'm 'you', remember? Not to mention that one of my powers allows me to read minds, in a way. The difference is that where I came from, Empire City was called 'New York City'. I played for Syracuse before I was drafted in the 1st round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. You wouldn't know them, since in your "timeline", you know it as 'New Jackson City'._

"_To a degree, yes, the government knew about it, but they believed that there was a higher priority at the time – that priority being a supposed invasion by extraterrestrials."_

"_...the government believed you guys were going to be invaded by aliens?" Cole asked incredulously._

"_Yes. In fact, the FBI had a division that spear-headed that issue known as the X-Files Division, but, again, I digress. Despite that, the FBI felt that what Massive Dynamic was researching was worth investigating, so they opened a division to look into it. It was known as the Fringe Division._

"_...they opened up a division because they believed that stuff like teleportation was possible?"_

"_I thought that as well. That all changed when I found out that one of my old professors was one of the key players in the Fringe division. His name was Dr. Walter Bishop – and if you thought I was crazy..."_

"_I do..." Cole deadpanned. "What's your old professor have anything to do with all of this?"_

"_...before the world fell apart due to the beast, he was the owner and CEO of Massive Dynamic."_

_That got Cole's attention._

"_With Massive Dynamic's ridiculous resources, Dr. Walter Bishop managed to do something that most thought was impossible – he founded dimensional science and theory." that's when Kessler stopped. Cole had wondered if something was wrong, when he spoke once more, but he sounded more...fragile._

"_I'm afraid that I might have been wrong about the beast in general." Kessler admitted, causing Cole's face to twist in total confusion. "Don't get me wrong – the beast was quite bad and needed to be stopped, but I believe that the deterioration of my world was due to Dr. Bishop incorrectly opening a portal between my world and one that almost mirrors it. Parts of my world became unlivable due to a substance we called "Amber", which was used to keep black holes from forming and destroying our world. While the beast in my time was stopped due to being incased in it, my world was already in ruins with a population of less than 1 billion left on the planet."_

"_Wait, you mean to tell me that this world, and possibly mine, are different dimensions?"_

"_For me, yes. For you, where you were born is your home dimension. This world, on the other hand, is a much different beast. It's so different, that I doubt that the exact point of divergence will be discovered in our lifetime. I am certain of one thing: the sage of six paths of this world knew about dimensional travel and may have kept records of his thoughts and observations somewhere. If you want all of the answers to this world, seek it out." _

_Cole nodded, surprised that some of that made sense. Then, without warning, Kessler doubled over in what looked to be excruciating pain. Cole was about to ask what was wrong, but Kessler's hand suddenly shot up to his forehead, grabbed, and held on._

"_Cole...my time among the living has come to a close. However...I will do …..what I should have done years ago... I will... transfer all of my knowledge to you." Kessler said weakly, in between horrible coughs._

"_What? Are you crazy? There's got to be a drawback to this!" Cole argued._

"_Yes...there is. This process...will kill me...but how would that ….have been any different ….than what was going to happen to me in a few days? At least I know...that my knowledge...will be put...to good use. There is...one more thing...do not...under any circumstances...allow this knowledge to fall...into the hands...of the Uchiha clan."_

_As Kessler's hands began to glow, he gave Cole one last look and said, "Farewell...Cole MacGrath. Please...learn from my mistakes...and make sure that this world doesn't suffer the same fate as mine."_

_With that, Cole felt a massive load of information explode into his head before blacking out._

**End Flashback**

The amount of knowledge Cole received was beyond anything that he had ever experienced. He suddenly knew how to build anything that their worlds had built themselves. It was that knowledge that led to Uzushiogakure becoming the most technologically advanced shinobi nation in this world before it seemingly met its end.

Another thing that caught his attention was that he aged very slowly. He was just over 40 years old, but for some odd reason, he still looked just as young as his days in New Marias. Kessler did live well over two lifetimes due to his electrical powers. He and Naruto could possibly end up living that long since they had the same powers. Speaking of Naruto...

"Lord Hokage, there is one more thing that I would like to discuss." Cole spoke in a serious tone. Sarutobi nodded, indicating that he was listening.

"It's about guardianship of the kid. Why hasn't Naruto been adopted?"

Sarutobi let out a long, tired sigh upon hearing that question. "Unfortunately, Danzo and the civilian council pulled a fast one the night after the attack. They created a law forbidding any Konoha-born ninja or Konoha clan to claim guardianship of Naruto. Technically, any Konoha civilian can adopt him, but Danzo made sure that no civilian would be willing to do so. It is one of the very few laws that I don't have the power to overrule."

"That old bastard probably wants to make sure that he is isolated enough for him to come and induct him into The Foundation." Cole spat.

_'Indeed, Root has been a problem over the years. Unfortunately, I can't touch Danzo until I can prove that he ignored my order to disband that organization...'_

"I agree, Cole-san. Danzo doesn't see Naruto as a human being. He sees him as a weapon. I'm doing what I can to make Naruto-kun's life as bearable as possible, but I'm afraid it won't be enough. As tough as the boy is, he is still human."

Cole went silent, thinking about what the old kage just told him. _'Damn it! What do I do? That old bastard and his cronies have made it impossible for anyone born here to adopt Naruto. __How the hell am I going to get around that-'_ Cole then froze in mid-thought and went back over what he just said to himself. After a moment, the Empire City native grinned.

"Lord Hokage..." Cole spoke up. Sarutobi saw the grin on his face and wondered what the man was up to.

"Yes?"

"You said before that ninjas or clans native to Leaf couldn't adopt Naruto, right?" Sarutobi was a bit confused as to why Cole was bringing this point back up, but nodded anyway.

"What does the law say about ninjas like me who _aren't_ born here?" Cole smirked. Sarutobi paused and began to think about what Cole just said. After a moment, the kage's eyes went wide in realization...before his lips formed a grin that practically said, 'I see what you did there'.

"I think it can work, Cole-san. We'll need to move quickly, though. If Danzo and the civilian council find out, they will quickly pass a law to close that loophole." Sarutobi said as he reached into his desk and pulled out a form. An clan creation form.

"Uh, Lord Hokage?" Cole asked in slight confusion.

"In order for ninjas, regardless of where they are from, to adopt, they have to get the approval of the both councils, the elders, and the Hokage. While I would certainly approve of the adoption and I'm sure that the ninja council would as well, Danzo and the civilian council would vote against it, leaving my two former teammates to decide Naruto's fate as your guardian. Should they rule against the adoption, Danzo and the civilian council will close up any remaining loopholes, which would effectively destroy any chance of Naruto ever getting adopted in this village."

"However, as hokage, I have the power to approve the creation of a clan. Anyone you list here would be included in the clan. The only stipulation is that the clan must consist of at least 6 people; two of whom must be female. Do you have anyone in mind who would want to be in this new clan?" Sarutobi asked.

"I'm pretty sure that Lord Jiraiya is more than willing to be apart of the clan. Lord Orochimaru and his apprentice Anko will also likely agree to join. The problem comes with finding another women..." Cole mused. Getting the other three to sign wouldn't take long since all three shinobi were in town. It was finding another women who wasn't part of a established clan that was an issue.

Sarutobi also went deep into thought. After a moment, his faced formed a wide grin. "I may know someone who is willing to join. It will take some convincing, but she did say that she owes Kushina and her family a life dept. You may be able to use that to your advantage. She has chosen to use her hermit status and leave the village, but she still has to contact me once a year and come back to the village every 3 years. It just so happens that she arrived in the village this afternoon and is suppose to be arriving any moment..."

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. _'That would be her...'_ Sarutobi cleared his throat before answering, "Enter."

The door opened as two women walked in. One had blond hair while the other had brunette hair. The brunette was carrying what looked to be a pet pig.

"I'm reporting in as you requested, sensei." the blond woman informed.

Sarutobi smiled. "Ah, welcome back. You're timing couldn't have been better...Tsunade."

As you can see, this chapter was the first of my re-writes. It seems a bit longer than before, yes, but it is important. If anyone has read the latest chapter of the Naruto manga, know that a lot of those characters will make their way into my story. Chapter 2 will also see a redo, so expect that to follow shortly after this chapter is re-posted. Read and review please, and thank you for being patient!


	2. Chapter 2 Academy Years

Just to let people know, this chapter, along with Chapter 1, has recently been altered from the original. There may still be grammar and spelling errors, but I will try to correct them as well. Any that I miss will be corrected during a story-wide grammar check at a later date.

Thanks to all the people who reviewed my story and posted. If anyone has any good ideas, feel free to post them and I'll see if I can incorporate at least a bit of it in the story. Keep on posting, guys! Here's the next chapter:

**Chapter 2: Academy Years**

It took a bit of convincing by Cole and even Shizune, but Tsunade decided to give Konoha one more shot and accepted Cole's offer to join the new clan: the Shinsei (新生) clan. Cole and Anko chose to keep their last names, but had indicated that any future offspring they had would bear their last name and the Shinsei name. Naruto did add the name, but kept it hidden for now. Until he became a ninja, the civilian council could cause problems for him should they find out that he was adopted through a loophole.

The scrolls that Naruto received were actually sealing scrolls containing numerous things which included not only the Uzumaki and Namikaze family jutsus, but also the wills of both clans. The Namikaze will stipulated that Naruto had to become a chunin before he was allowed access to the Namikaze fortune and the family jutsus, but it did allow Naruto immediate access to the Namikaze compound, which was more than big enough to house all of the current members.

When both ninja and civilian councils asked why the Namikaze compound was given to the Shinsei clan, Sarutobi told them that in Minato's will, he bequeathed the compound to the toad sannin. While true, the will also stated that a member of the Namikaze clan could claim the entire compound and the fortune if the person was either 16 or was a chunin.

The Uzumaki will, on the other hand, allowed Naruto immediate access to Kushina's life savings, which was not as vast as some of the bigger clans, but was still more than any civilian had by a long shot. Jiraiya himself owned quite a fortune due to his Icha Icha Paradise books, which were the most read books in the elemental countries (although it seemed that a lot of women despised the series, despite being perverted themselves).

In just three years, the Shinsei clan had gained the attention of village's major clans. While most of the clans welcomed the Shinsei clan with open arms, many members of the Uchiha clan were not very happy about it, while the civilian council looked to be indifferent about the new clan. In order to keep Danzo and the civilian Council from trying to destroy the clan simply just to make sure Naruto's life remained miserable, only a select few knew that Naruto was apart of the clan. This few included the current Shinsei members, Hokage, Kakashi, Hiashi, Itachi, and the original Ino-Shika-Cho.

For the past year, the Uchiha clan started to show signs of internal strife in the public eye. Granted, there always seemed to be disagreements within the clan by quite a few members, but most never really paid it any mind. That is, until the internal strife morphed into a civil cold war. Most non-members assumed that the cold war was due to difference of opinion in future leadership and to a certain degree, that was the case.

On one side was Fugaku Uchiha, the clan leader. On the outside, he showed respect to other clan leaders and the hokage, but in reality, he believed that the Uchiha clan should be the rulers of Konoha and was in favor of a coup to overthrow the current government and make the Uchiha clan the absolute authority in Konoha.

Itachi Uchiha, Faguku's oldest son and village prodigy, lead the other half, now known as the Uchiwa clan, who were against the coup. They believed that carrying through with such an act would not only lose the respect of most, if not all of the ninja and civilians, but would also weaken Konoha to the point where a few of the other ninja nations would take advantage of the coup and invade the village.

Jiraiya, knowing the requirements for graduation, was well aware that Naruto would not be able to obtain good enough chakra control in time to pull off a regular clone, so he taught him the shadow clone jutsu to eliminate that problem. The toad sannin taught the boy about what the shadow clone could do, including accelerated learning, but forbid him from using it to learn any jutsu that wasn't cleared by Jiraiya or his other family members until he became a genin. The toad sannin didn't want to risk the boy hurting himself from learning too much too fast since the shadow clone jutsu wasn't designed to be performed by a child, even if that child had insane chakra reserves.

Tsunade and Shizune were appalled and downright pissed that Naruto was denied basic education by civilian schools, public and private alike. Granted, he wasn't completely deprived of knowledge since he had a knack for picking up things around him, but he still lacked a complete education. However, once they found out that Jiraiya taught him the shadow clone jutsu, they saw an opportunity to get the boy caught up in basic studies. Thanks to the shadow clone, Naruto managed to learn 6 years worth of basic education in just six months.

Orochimaru felt that Naruto might very well have to alter his seal at some point, so the snake sannin got the boy started on basic sealing. During his studies, Naruto noticed that a few seal experts had experimented on other people. When he asked Orochimaru about it, the sannin told him in a strict tone that he was to never use other people for experiments. Orochimaru told him that if he wanted to experiment on something, he should use his shadow clones whenever possible. Naruto asked why he was so adamant about it.

FLASHBACK

"_Naruto-kun...what you must understand is that while experimenting on other people may prevent injury to you personally, it will take you down a VERY dark road – a road that most people don't come back from. I, myself, was heading down that path at one point in my life." Orochimaru explained with an ashamed look on his face. It was obvious that he wasn't proud of his actions back then._

"_What brought you back, Orochimaru-sensei?" Naruto asked._

"_...I saw the future from a man during a mission that Sarutobi-sensei sent me on. In that future, I became an inhuman monster that took thousands of innocent lives...including the life of my own sensei." Orochimaru looked down in sadness. He had just started to experiment on felons, something most people won't have cared very much about, but they were human nevertheless._

"_Once I saw that horrible future, I made a decision right then and there that it was not the path that I wanted to travel down. The first thing I did once I completed the mission was go to Sarutobi-sensei and tell him everything. While he was disappointed that I would try such a thing, he also told me that he was proud of me for owning up to my mistakes and reduced my punishment to a month of D-rank missions instead of imprisonment and expulsion from the shinobi corp."_

_Sealing is one of the most powerful jutsu types in the world. Use it to help you become strong, but don't let it corrupt you...or your loved ones could be the ones who pay the price."_

_Naruto nodded, but he still had something he wanted to ask. "I understand Orochimaru-sensei, but I have to ask...why do you hate the Uchiha clan so much?"_

_Orochimaru had a look of surprise on his face. 'Jiraiya was right...the boy is perceptive. This is a good thing. He has every right to know why I despise a lot of the Uchiha clan members. Minato-kun...Kushina-chan...you would be proud.'_

"_I don't hate all of them, Naruto-kun...but I will admit that I have absolutely little to no respect for a lot of their 'noblemen'." Orochimaru nearly spat out the last word. "As for why, it is because I've witnessed some of their members doing what I warned against you doing."_

"_...You don't mean..." Naruto whispered. Orochimaru nodded._

"_Yes...they have experimented on others. What makes it so disturbing is that they didn't just experiment on inmates of the Konoha prison system..." _

"_You mean...our own shinobi?"_

"_...More than that." Orochimaru had to do everything he could for his voice not to crack._

"_Oh Kami...the civilians." Orochimaru only nodded. The sannin didn't trust his voice at all._

"_Does oji-san know about this?"_

"_Yes, he does. However, because of his position, he must trend carefully. Unless Jiraiya or myself obtain proof of wrongdoing, we can't touch them."_

END FLASHBACK

Naruto had noticed that Orochimaru had a hard time with the end of that conversation. After talking with the snake sannin, Naruto did some research...and was horrified at what he found. Orochimaru had a little sister named Yukushi, who was a Konoha genin. What made it so terrible was that she had died during the 3rd shinobi war under the command of Jonin Takeo Uchiha, the clan's most aggressive jonin at the time.

It was no secret that Orochimaru was the master of the snake taijutsu style and had taught her that same style. The higher ups of the Uchiha clan were not happy that somebody was able to come up with a taijutsu to counter their sharingan and were even more upset that said style was passed down to someone else. What made Naruto suspicious was that genin were not suppose to be in a main assault force. She was the only genin in the Takeo Uchiha's whole battalion – and she was hand-picked by Takeo himself. After she supposedly died, Takeo claimed to have destroyed her body, but some people were suspicious since the battalion brought back an unmarked box – a box large enough to fit a human body in.

Orochimaru's sister wasn't the only unsolved case, either. Some other people, ranging from shinobi to civilian children, had gone missing over the years. While most of these cases were in fact dead ends, nearly all of these cases had a suspicious undertone. The civilian council simply shrugged it off, saying that the Uchiha clan was head of the police force and that it was their job to be the primary investigators of such crimes, but Naruto knew better. Why was it that every case had an Uchiha clansman report the person missing and not the person's loved ones? Also, why were the people in question reported missing in less than a 24-hour period?

Naruto chose to keep this piece of information to himself – mainly because it was in the hokage archives, a place he actually shouldn't even have access to. Granted, the old man would probably just scolded him and make him promise not to reveal this information to the public, but he wouldn't do anything more than that. However, there was another reason. Naruto knew that if the Uchiha clan were to get wind of him researching these cases, they may very well send an assassin after him.

Anko got the boy started on battle strategies and tactics by having him play her and the other clan members in shogi, go, chess, and even Risk. Anko noticed that while the boy definitely wasn't stupid, his common sense was still a little behind, so the snake apprentice got to work on that as well. Frankly, Anko was the only person willing to give Naruto 'the talk'.

Cole helped Naruto develop and control his electrical powers. He even taught Naruto a few of his own tricks that he used to help free Empire City about 11 years ago and defend his previous home, the Hidden Malstrom village. Cole told him that it was up to him to develop some of his own moves, but said that he would always give the boy advice when he needed it.

Cole wasn't quite ready to reveal what had happened when he talked to Kessler for the last time, but just like he did in Uzushiogakure, he put his knowledge of technology to good use. One of those uses was the construction of a power plant in Konoha. However, that was only the beginning. Kessler was literally the biggest information bank known to any civilization. Somehow, his future/alternate self had recorded every single piece of media that existed in his world.

While the ninja world already had TV, Cole uploaded every single movie/TV show to several news stations that were built right after the power plant was. This lead to several studios learning from these shows to produce new content in the same style as the originals, which were also aired regularly.

During a training exercise with the three sannin, Naruto took a hard hit to the head and was knocked unconscious. It was here that he officially met his tenant, the nine-tailed fox.

FLASHBACK

_Naruto was in what seemed to be a large sewer system. The only difference was that it didn't smell at all and the water on the floor was exactly that – water, not sewage. He wondered down the corridor until he came to a giant cage. The boy also noticed that there was a piece of paper that kept the cage closed. It had the kanji for "seal". Naruto went to go inspect the seal and even reached up to the seal until he heard a booming, but calm voice._

"_**Don't touch, Kit. There's a reason that seal is there."**_

_Naruto jumped back in surprise and saw a pair of red eyes look down at him. At first, the boy seemed a bit scared, but relaxed when he saw that the eyes held no malice, trickery, or any such action._

"_W-Who are you and where am I?" Naruto stuttered. The creature inside the cage sighed and stepped into the light. It was a giant nine-tailed fox with red fur. Naruto's eyes went wide, realizing that this action alone by the fox answered his two questions._

"_**I see that my presence doesn't require me to answer a few of your questions." **the fox stated. Naruto nodded dumbly at the statement before pulling himself together and then proceeded to glare at the fox._

"_So...you're the reason everyone hates me." Naruto said in a low, but cold voice. "Do you...have ANY idea what I went through in my life? It's because of you that my life has been complete garbage!" Kyubi's eyes widened at the boy's response. Granted, it expected the boy to not be happy with his life before being saved, but it didn't expect its container to be this...bitter._

"_Why did you attack our village? What the hell did we ever do to you? TELL ME!" Naruto screamed. His mask had finally come completely crashing down as the boy closed his eyes to prevent tears from pouring out. He didn't want to show weakness in front of a being that was considered the most powerful in the world of the living. Naruto was about to continue his rant, but stopped when he saw that instead of the large red-furred that he saw just a moment ago, a beautiful red-haired woman was there in its place. She looked sad and on the verge of tears._

"_...Kit...I'm so sorry." the woman whispered. Naruto stood there, stunned. Where was the demon fox he saw a second ago?_

"_I am the nine-tailed fox, kit." Kyubi responded softly. "This is my human form. Believe it or not, I prefer this form over my demon form."_

_Naruto continued to stare at the beautiful looking women for a little bit before coming out of his stupor. "...You still haven't answered my question."_

"_...I see. So your father's worst fear did come to pass...that bastard Danzo really did spread all of those lies to the villagers." Kyubi sighed sadly. She saw that Naruto at least calmed down enough to allow her to explain her side of the story, so she continued, "Naruto-kun, your father may have been the one to seal me, but believe me, I hold nothing against him for doing so. To answer your question, the reason I attacked your village was because I wasn't given a choice in the matter."_

"_I was actually traveling across fire country, following up on information about a dimensional jutsu. I had heard that someone actually came to this dimension by said jutsu. I never did find out who that person was, but I digress. I was just 7 miles outside of Wave Country when I was ambushed by Konoha shinobi, but not just any Konoha shinobi – they were Uchiha shinobi. I asked what they wanted from me, thinking that my cover was still intact..." the vixen looked down in shame. _

"_...I couldn't have been more wrong. The leader looked at me with his sharingan activated, telling me that they would finally take control of Konoha and that I was going to help them...whether I wanted to or not. I lost complete control of my body after that...I believe you can fill in the rest."_

_Naruto was completely shocked at what he heard. Not only that, but for some reason, he could tell that she wasn't lying to him at all. In fact, she looked down right ashamed for foolishly lowering her guard thinking they didn't know who she was and in effect, put herself in the position to be controlled and used as a weapon of mass destruction. Despite that, Naruto realized one important fact: the Kyubi never had the intention of destroying Konoha, or any village for that matter. He then thought back to a moment ago when he screamed at her and instantly felt like he had just hit a puppy...or in this case, a kit._

"_I'm sorry..." Naruto said softly, his eyes still looking down._

_Kyubi saw the look on this face and smiled softly. "It's alright, Kit. Nobody else could have known that except your father." Her face then morphed in to a sad expression. "I just wish my carelessness didn't have to cost your father his life and you your happiness."_

_There was a moment of silence, but it wasn't really uncomfortable. It was more like a moment of silence that was given to a respected person who had just past away. After a moment, Naruto spoke._

"_So, it was the Uchiha..." Naruto said in a half tired, but half angry tone. Kyubi looked at him with a somewhat confused look. Seeing the look on her face, Naruto sighed._

"_Believe me, Kyubi-chan, the fact that the Uchiha are behind yet another problem in our village no longer surprises me. Don't worry, though. They aren't as strong as they used to be."_

_Kyubi giggled at being called 'chan'. "Why not? What happened?"_

"_The Uchiha clan heads wanted to overthrow our government and take over, but not all of its members liked the idea. The Uchiwa clan, who are former Uchiha members, were very unhappy that their kin would even entertain this idea and after hearing your side of it, I'm fairly certain that them controlling you planted the seeds for the current civil cold war that has broken out."_

"_A cold war? Hmm...I see. Who's the leader of the two factions?" Kyubi asked._

"_Itachi Uchiwa, formally Uchiha, leads the Uchiwa clan, who are loyal to Konoha and Fugaku leads the Uchiha who are loyal to only their own clan." Naruto answered for her._

_The vixen nodded. "We do have a bit more to talk about kit, but for now, go ahead and wake up. I sense that your teachers are worried about you."_

END FLASHBACK

After that, Naruto told the three sannin what had transpired while he was out cold. To say they were surprised was an understatement. None of them, especially Orochimaru, were surprised nor happy that the Uchiha clan was behind yet another problem in their village. After talking it over, they all agreed to 'keep it in the family'. Should word get out that Naruto knew what really happened, Fugaku could send assassins after the boy.

Kyubi began to contact Naruto through his mind. When Naruto told the vixen about the scroll he received from his mother through the sandaime, she recognized a blood seal on the letter and told the boy to smear some of his blood on it. What appeared was a scroll containing his mother's personal taijutsu style. Kyubi told him that she herself was familiar with the style and offered to help Naruto learn it. When asked why, she told him that learning such a great taijutsu style was not very common and commented that regardless of what village you were in, the academy taijutsu simply wasn't that great.

From that point on, Kyubi began to teach him the 'Malstrom style'. What surprised Naruto was that one of the style's main advantages was unpredictable movement, much like the snake style that Orochimaru and Anko use. Another was that the style took complete advantage of Naruto's bloodline limit. If Naruto is able to touch one of the person's charka points, he could send a small electrical pulse through the body, allowing him to read the person's brain wave patterns. This allowed Naruto 'see' the person's every move for 20 seconds per touch.

The style's only drawback was that it didn't have much power, but power wasn't really needed. It was the ultimate defensive style and truth be told, most taijutsu specialist admitted that nearly anyone who goes up against a master of the Malstrom style could end up dead.

At last, it was time for Naruto to be enrolled into the Konoha Ninja Academy. His family members told him not to reveal his power unless he had to. When Naruto complained about the rule, Jiraiya simply told him to think of it as part of his training.

FLASHBACK

"_Naruto, you are not to reveal most of your power unless absolutely necessary." Jiraiya instructed._

"_Why, ero-sennin? I can understand if I were around foreigners, but my own classmates?" Naruto asked._

"_Because deception is a ninja's best tool. Also, Sasuke Uchiha, Fugaku's youngest son, will be attending the academy this year as well...and unlike Itachi, he fully supports his father's ideals. I'm not sure if Sasuke has been told about you and Kyubi, but I'd rather not take chances. If nothing else, reveal as little as possible when Sasuke is present."_

END FLASHBACK

The first year was the worst for Naruto. His instructors purposely ignored any questions that he had and sabotaged his tests, leaving him in last place despite his efforts. Unfortunately, most of the students picked up on this and started calling him 'dobe', 'deadlast', 'loser', and other derogatory names. Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were the only students who didn't join in on the name calling and actually felt sorry for the boy.

However, things did start to look up in his second year. Iruka was assigned to teach at the academy that year and had taken a liking to Naruto. From that point on, the sabotaged tests took a dramatic drop. Naruto still had to really work at some of the other tests given out by the other instructors just to barely pass, but every time Naruto took any of Iruka's tests, he earned himself a perfect score while most others seem to struggle. This didn't go unnoticed by Iruka and that's when the scarred chunin began to suspect that the boy's status as a jinchuriki was being used against him by the other instructors.

In year three, Iruka had finally become convinced that Naruto was being screwed over by his fellow chunin instructors and immediately told his family and the hokage. While there wasn't enough proof to send them to Ibiki, Anko, and/or Inoichi, it was enough to allow Iruka to administer all of Naruto's classwork and tests personally. That was when Naruto went from near deadlast to near the top of the class. Most of Naruto's classmates were unaware of this due to two factors: (1) He didn't take his tests with his classmates when it was an instructor other than Iruka giving it and (2) His somewhat hyper personality made most assume that he was clueless. Naruto was a bit hyper, yes, but very few people knew the truth: Naruto's intelligence was 2nd only to the Nara family. Orochimaru suggested that when the boy's powers started to manifest the night the Shinsei clan was born, his nervous system had made dramatic improvements. Because of his new powers, information not only travel much faster to the brain than before, but much more efficiently.

In Naruto's last year at the academy, his friends caught wind of his bloodline. Shikamaru and Choji always suspected that the boy was hiding his true abilities and decided to do some research. Both were in the library when they finally figured it out. Choji was looking through a book titled, "Villages of the Past" when he came across Uzugakure. Shikamaru remembered his father Shikaku telling him stories of the village. The book told that the Uzukage had a powerful bloodline limit, that allowed the leader to have complete control of electricity without having to use chakra, but the leader's name was never touched up on. Shikamaru had wondered why the name of the Uzukage was never mentioned in the book when he noticed that the book was written by a professor from Konoha University.

Suspecting a cover-up of sorts, the young Nara genius and the large Akimichi went to their fathers and asked why the name of the Uzukage seemed to be kept a secret. It was luck that the Sandaime was meeting with the two jonins that night. Deciding to take a chance, the Sandaime told the boys that Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's birth mother, was the Uzukage. Shikamaru and Choji were stunned at first, but recovered and promised not to reveal the secret to anyone who didn't know, with Shikamaru adding that it would be 'too troublesome' if the wrong people found out.

Kiba had found out in a similar way. When the dog boy asked if his mother knew Naruto's parents, Tsume told Kiba that she knew Kushina Uzumaki personally and told him all about her. After hearing his mother's story, Kiba went to the same library and, strangely enough, found the same book that Shikamaru and Choji had found a month earlier. Combined with some other information he found in the Inuzuka archives, Kiba put two and two together. He confronted Naruto with the information, who finally gave in and told him that he was correct.

That left Hinata. Over the last 3 and a half years, Naruto had been helping Hinata gain confidence in herself. At first, Hinata thought that she might have been in love with Naruto, but had realized that this was not the case. She did love him of course, but it was the kind of love one had for a sibling. She looked up to him so much that she started calling Naruto 'big brother'. Naruto, felling bad that she was the only person in his circle of friends that didn't know about his bloodline limit, decided that he could trust her with the secret. While she was a bit stunned upon hearing that, she did feel happy for him. Hinata was no longer the stuttering mess she was before entering the academy. She was still somewhat shy, but she never backed down when someone challenged her and was quite assertive.

Sasuke learned this lesson the hard way by challenging her to a taijutsu fight after finding out that she was in the running for rookie of the year. She beat him soundly, much to the surprise of everyone except Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba (who secretly had a crush on the Hyuga heir). Ami and her two friends (toadies), who were members of Sasuke's fanclub, weren't to happy about the Uchiha's defeat and tried to bully the Hyuga, only to find themselves on the ground with the chakra points in their arms and legs closed up. At that point, Hinata was officially recognized as a top contender for ROTY.

**XXXXX**

**DAY OF THE GENIN EXAM**

"Naruto-kun, time to get up. Today's your genin exam!" came a female's voice. Naruto let out a yawn while rubbing his eyes. After he got the sleep out of his eyes, he looked up to see Shizune giving him a warm smile.

"Ok nee-chan, I'm up." Naruto mumbled although he still gave her a smile of his own. He truly loved having a surrogate older sister. It beats the hell out of waking up alone in his old apartment, that's for sure. He got out of bed and went towards the bathroom to get himself cleaned up.

After about 20 minutes, he came out of the bathroom dressed in and ready to go. He wore a short-sleeved teal underarmour shirt, a pair of black and teal camo pants and a pair of open shinobi boots that stopped midway up his legs. He wore a pair of fingerless gloves that covered up to a few inches below his elbows. After emerging from the bathroom, he smelled something good coming from the kitchen.

"Whatever you're cooking smells good, Kaa-chan!" Naruto half shouted.

"Thank you, Naru-chan! Now come and eat up. You'll need the energy for your exam." Tsunade called back in happy tone, obviously flattered by Naruto's compliment.

"In a minute, Kaa-san." Naruto blushed slightly with embarrassment at the nickname she had given him when he was younger.

Tsunade was hurt by the loss of her little brother Nawaki, but still decided to stay in the village...until the attack of Kyubi. After being told by Danzo that all members of the Namikaze family had died, the slug sannin couldn't take it anymore. In her own eyes, she believed that she failed her best friend Kushina when little Naruto was reported to have died because of the sealing. She left Konoha shortly after and had been in a depression with Shizune the only person she would allow into her personal life.

However, when she came back nearly 4 years ago to check in with Sarutobi as she was required to, she was shocked to learn that Naruto was still alive. She was also highly pissed when she found out how the boy had been treated by the villagers, Danzo, and the civilian council.

When Cole and her old teammate Orochimaru came to her with the offer to form a new clan, she was hesitant at first, but immediately agreed when they informed her that it was the only way to give Naruto a family since the civ. council made a law forbidding any Konoha-born ninjas to adopt him. After the clan was created, Tsunade was made clan head (Jiraiya and Orochimaru refused, believing that Tsunade was the most qualified to lead).

Naruto walked into the Kitchen and saw Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Cole sitting at the table. Tsunade herself was putting a good amount of food on the table, which included omelets, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and different kinds of fruit. Naruto gave a quick 'good morning' to his uncles/guardians and sat down.

"Ok, everyone – dig in." Tsunade said. Everyone muttered 'itadakimasu' before platting their food and eating. It was no secret that Tsunade was the best medic-nin in the village. What surprised people was that she was also an experienced and excellent cook. Orochimaru was also considered to be a great cook in Japanese style cooking while Cole himself was proficient in western style cooking.

Naruto lacks the experience of the other three, but knew more cooking styles which included Italian, Mexican, and even some Indian cuisine. Jiraiya wasn't that good at cooking, but was great at making different drinks – alcoholic or otherwise. Shizune had the best baking skills of the family. She had to hide anything chocolate-related less it got kidnapped by Naruto, who is a chocolate freak.

After Naruto finished eating, he cleaned his plate off in the sink and waved 'goodbye' as he took off towards the academy.

"You do know that Naruto-kun is going to destroy that exam, right?" Shizune mentioned.

Tsunade responded, "How can he not? He's stronger than any genin at his current level." She looked over to her two old teammates and noticed that they were deep in thought.

"Orochi, pervert...something wrong?" She asked with a hint of concern.

Even Shizune and Cole looked over and noticed their worried looks. "Yeah, what's the deal? You guys look like one of those Saints fans that saw Mike Ditka trade away his team's entire draft for that pothead of a running back." Cole added.

"...Did the old man say who was giving the exam?" Jiraiya asked. Tsunade and Cole shook their heads 'no'. Shizune, however, had a different answer.

"I heard that Mizuki, the academy's headmaster, will be overseeing the entire exam personally with Iruka as his assistant."

Jiraiya and Orochimaru froze. It was obvious to everyone that the two sannin didn't like what they just heard.

"Tsunade..." Orochimaru spoke up. "Jiraiya and I have been tailing the headmaster for a half a year now and we have reason to believe that he might be secretly employed by someone with a lot of money."

"I don't understand. Who and why would someone other than hokage-sama want to pay a chunin instructor?" Shizune asked.

"We don't know exactly who has hired him, but one thing is obvious..." Jiraiya said, turning to Orochimaru.

"...Whatever it is that they have asked him to do, they don't want it traced back to them." Orochimaru finished.

"...Shit."

Everyone looked over at Cole, who had a look of disgust on his face. "If that's the case, then I'm sure that whatever Mizuki has planned has something to do with at least one of the brats." the human lightning rod mused.

"Also, I've read up on Mizuki's past. His clan was on the verge of getting a seat in both the civilian and the shinobi council, a village first. However, most of his clan was wiped out during the Kyubi attack. Rumor has it that he was quite bitter about the disbanding of his clan since he didn't have enough members left."

At that bit of news, everyone paled as they all had one person on their mind.

_'Naruto...'_

**XXXXX**

**NINJA ACADEMY**

Naruto had arrived quite early and saw that the only students that arrived before him were Hinata, Choji, and Shikamaru – who was taking a nap. Hinata gave him a friendly wave and a 'hello Naruto-nee-san' while Choji stopped eating to greet the blond with a light slap on the back. Shikamaru woke up and gave Naruto a lazy wave before going back to his slumber. Choji just shrugged and went back to eating his bag of chips while Naruto and Hinata both sweat-dropped at the lazy Nara. _'He gets here earlier than most of us, yet he is the laziest in the class – go figure.'_

"**Don't blame him, kit; blame the family line. Nara men are traditionally lazy, but incredibly smart for whatever reason." **Kyubi spoke up.

_'I didn't wake you did I, Kyubi-chan?'_ Naruto mentally asked.

"**Don't worry about it, kit. I want to see how you do today, anyway."** Kyubi waved her hand.

Next to arrive was Kiba. Naruto gives the dog boy a pound and a dab and lightly scratches behind Akamaru's ears. Hinata gives Kiba a warm smile and waves to him, causing the Inuzuka to slightly blush, which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto._ 'Kiba...just talk to her, man. She actually does like you and is waiting for you to make the first move.'_

"**Inuzuka men maybe loyal, but they can be so damn clueless sometimes..."** Kyubi sighed.

Shino walked in without saying much, but when he saw Naruto, he gave him a respectable nod which Naruto returned. While Naruto wasn't as close to Shino as he was with his other friends, the two still had respect for one another, mainly since Naruto wasn't put off by him being a tenant for thousands of bugs. In fact, Naruto commented that he found his bugs interesting and even asked if it was alright to have a communicator bug placed on him in case the blond needed to talk with him.

Next to enter were Kin Tsuchi and her sister Tayuya Tsuchi. Naruto wasn't as close to them as he was with some of his other friends, but they were both cool in his book. For one thing, they were the only girls other than Hinata who weren't part of Sasuke's fan club. Ironically, Sasuke seemed interested in both girls, but Kin outright ignored him and Tayuya simply shot him down with her sharp tongue and colorful vocabulary, something that always cracked the blond and his friends up.

Other students started to file into the classroom, including members of the Sasuke Uchiha fan club. Naruto noticed one of the members and mentally scowled.

_'Ami.'_

While most of the students were ignorant of Naruto's tenant, he suspected that Ami may actually know about the fox since she was one of the few to actually call him a 'demon'. While the majority of the class didn't think very highly of Naruto, mainly due to the blond hiding his true power, they would sometimes give Ami a questioning look as if to ask 'Why do you call him that?'.

She would only respond by saying that she couldn't tell them, but had a 'good' reason for calling the boy such a horrible putdown. However, that wasn't the main reason he despised her so much. Ami was a bully – and her constant target was Sakura, one of the girls he has a crush on. It sadden him that she had a crush on...

He heard some of the girls scream...and palmed his face. _'Speak of the devil...'_

"**I don't think Yami herself is going to react very well to your insult, kit." **Kyubi half joked.

Sasuke, the heir to the Uchiha clan, had walked into the classroom to the delight of his fangirls and to the displeasure of everyone else. Even Hinata, who was known to be a sweetheart, had a look of annoyance at his arrival. He simply gave a 'Hn' as he walked past them. He was about to sit down when he noticed Naruto. He gave the blond an arrogant smirk.

"Why'd youbother showing up, loser? You're a lock to fail this exam. At least if you hadn't come, nobody would have a chance to laugh at you." Sasuke mocked. Naruto clinched his fist at the insult and was about to say something, when he felt someone lightly grab his shoulder. It was Shikamaru.

"Calm down, Naruto. He's doing that on purpose and you know it." the Nara whispered only loud enough for the blond to hear although Kiba and Akamaru also picked up on it due to their enhanced senses as well as Hinata, due to her being able to read lips and slightly nodded in agreement. They were getting quite tired of Sasuke taking verbal pot shots at the jinchuriki and getting away with it.

"**Listen to your Nara friend, kit. The little shit isn't worth it...yet."** Kyubi said.

"Got nothing to say, dobe?" Sasuke said, trying to goud him once more. Naruto simply glared at him before sitting down in his seat. Sasuke, thinking he had won, smirked and sat down in his own seat. His fangirls swooned.

"Sasuke-kun is soooo cool!"

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, put that loser in his place!"

"You're the best, Sasuke-kun!"

"**Dear Kami, please make it stop." **Kyubi groaned/begged.

_'You took the words right out of my mouth' _ Naruto responded.

Their praises were cut short when a loud noise came from the doorway. Everyone looked to see two girls come flying through the doorway.

"Ha! I win, billboard brow! Looks like I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

"Like hell you won, pig! Sasuke-kun is mine!"

"Hey Sakura-chan, Ino-chan." Naruto attempted to greet them only for them to spin around and glare at him like he had insulted them somehow.

"What the hell do you want, loser!" both girls shouted at him.

"I just wanted to say hi, that's all." Naruto responded with a smile, but his friends knew that it was a fake smile. Inwardly, Naruto was hurt by their response.

"Well don't! Sasuke-kun might think I'm a loser if I actually talk to one." Sakura sneered as she walked to the seat on the left of where the Uchiha heir was sitting. This time his mask dropped, revealing a look of hurt in his eyes.

_**'Naruto-kun...'**_ Kyubi thought sadly.

Even Ino, who was about to say something rude of her own, saw the look on his face and for some reason, felt a small pang of guilt. She choose not to say anything rude to him and sit in the seat to Sasuke's right. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt bad for yelling at the blond for no reason other than him just trying to be friendly.

Iruka and Mizuki both entered the room to find the students chatting up a storm. Iruka cleared his throat to get their attention. The students continued talking.

"Okay class, quiet down." Iruka spoke up. They still hadn't notice the chunin instructor. Mizuki had a somewhat bored look on his face, but then noticed the tick marks that were starting to show up on Iruka's head. _'Uh oh...here it comes...' _the headmaster thought as he calmly reached into one of his vest pockets, pulled out a pair of ear plugs, and insert them into each ear.

Out of all of the students, only Naruto and his friends actually noticed Iruka doing some hand signs and did the same thing Mizuki did and put on pairs of earplugs of their own. Naruto mentally began counting down. '_5...4...3...2...1...'_

"**SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP, YOU BRATS!" **shouted a big-head Iruka. Everyone in the class instantly stopped talking to see a very annoyed scarred chunin standing at the front of the class.

"**...I like that jutsu.'** Kyubi commented with a grin.

_'You would...'_ Naruto thought dryly.

"...Thank you." Iruka calmly said and continued, "As you all know, your genin exam is today. I will be your junior examiner and Headmaster Mizuki here will be your senior examiner. Your test is made up of two parts; a written test and a jutsu test. The written test is not mandatory to pass since the purpose of that test is to help determine where you are ranked among the graduating class, which is one of the factors in team placement. You must, however, pass the jutsu test in order to qualify as a genin of Konoha."

As Iruka finished, Mizuki stepped forward. "As Iruka-san mentioned, I will be your senior examiner today. We will be conducting the written test first. Each of the exam papers already have your name on them so when I call your name, come and receive your test. All of your answers must be in pen. Iruka will be watching to make sure that you're eyes aren't tempted to...wonder. Should you be caught 'wondering', you will fail this part of the genin exam and will automatically be out of the running for 'Rookie-of-the-Year'. You may begin when you return to your seat with your paper."

With that, the lavender-haired chunin began calling the students up one-by-one to receive their test paper. Naruto was finally called up to receive his test, but halfway back to his seat, he noticed something odd; while some of the questions were normal questions that genins were expected to know, a good amount of the questions on his paper were questions he recognized as ones found on the chunin exam. A couple of the questions were even jonin level. Naruto was about to speak up, but was cut off by Mizuki.

"There will be no talking or questions during this exam."

Naruto frowned a bit, but tried again to talk. "But Mizuki-sensei, my t-"

"I said no talking, Uzumaki." Mizuki said in a raised voice. "If you had any questions, you should have asked _before_ I began calling your names. One more word and you will fail this part of the exam. Now go sit down."

Naruto didn't say anything, but his facial expression showed that he was not happy about being blown off without even hearing what he had to say. While some people, including Sasuke and his fangirls snickered (funny how they didn't get caught), Hinata, Choji, and Kiba frowned at Mizuki.

Even Iruka didn't look pleased about Mizuki's attitude towards one of his favorite students. _'What's your problem, Mizuki? You could have at least let him ask his question...'_. Shino remained quite, but his bugs were telling him that Mizuki's attitude towards the blond ran deeper than it should. Inside Naruto, Kyubi narrowed her eyes. **_'I smell bullshit...and eight-tails isn't anywhere in sight.'_**

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion. _'Mizuki-sensei made no bones about scolding Naruto, but ignored Sasuke and his fangirls when they could clearly be heard snickering. Something's going on...and I get the feeling that it's going to be a pain-in-the-ass.' _He then caught a glimpse of Naruto's test paper and paled. _'The hell? More than half of those questions are chunin-level questions...wait..I even see one or two jonin level questions! What the hell is going on?' _

He looked at some other test papers randomly, careful not to get caught by a watching Iruka. Shikamaru frowned. _'Nobody else has that kind of test. Why does only Naruto have questions that hard?' _He then saw Sasuke's test...and had to keep himself from growling in anger.

_'You've got to be kidding me! His test already has the answers filled out for him! _He then caught Mizuki looking exclusively at Sasuke with a knowing wink. Sasuke looked back at him with a ghost of a grin. The lavender haired instructor then looked over towards Naruto and grinned evilly, which Naruto didn't seem to notice. _'That troublesome bastard! He's giving Sasuke a pass while screwing Naruto over!'_

Naruto himself was starting to suspect that Mizuki had something against him. _'He hasn't called me a demon or anything of that nature, but he has never really been that nice to me, either.'_ He looked down at his test paper. _'Something stinks. I mean, yeah, I know the __answers to these questions, but that still doesn't...' _Naruto froze for a minute and mentally went back to what he has just thought about. A moment later, a grin slowly form on his face.

_'Maybe it's time I showed people that I'm not the dumbass loser they think I am...and I know just how to prove it.'_

His eyes then gave off a barely noticeable glow as he began writing in the answers. He then glanced over ever so slightly to see Sasuke's paper. While a part of him was angry that the Uchiha was getting a free pass, the other part, which won out, was wearing a shit-eating grin. It's going to be fun watching the reactions of all of his doubters.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto and was surprised to see the blond give off a devious grin. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Naruto's eyes glow ever so slightly before the lazy Nara smirked. _'So...he's using THAT jutsu. Watching the aftermath is going to be even more entertaining than watching clouds.'_

After 45 minutes had passed, Mizuki stood up and announced, "Alright class, pens down. This portion of the genin exam is finished. There will be a break before the next part of the exam. Use it however you wish. Dismissed."

The students got up and headed off in random directions ranging from the throwing range to the cafeteria. As the last student left, Iruka walked up to Mizuki.

"What was that all about?" Iruka inquired with a slight stern look.

"What was what about? Mizuki feigned ignorance.

"You reprimanding Naruto like that. There was no harm in him asking a question." Iruka stated.

"That isn't the point, Iruka. The other students needed to concentrate. He should have asked while he was still at my desk. I know that you care about him on a personal level, but he needs to learn how to take care of himself." Mizuki said and walked out of the room with the test papers under his arm.

_'Needs to learn how to take care of himself? He's been doing that for more than half of his life. I dare say he's better prepared to deal with the real world than over half of the shinobi in our village, let alone all of these students.'_ Iruka narrowed his eyes, unwilling to accept the senior examiner's explanation.

**XXXXX**

**NINJA ACADEMY - HEADMASTER'S OFFICE**

Mizuki was in his office, grading the written exams that the students just finished.

"That was almost too easy." he said to himself. He managed to not only pass the Uchiha heir, but also fail the demon brat by giving him a much harder written exam instead. What made his plan so seemingly fool-proof was that the Sandaime only requested the scores, not the exam papers themselves.

Granted, he had to archive them, but if someone came looking, he could always claim that it must have gotten lost in his stack of paperwork, something that most clan/village leaders can understand since they have to put up with that never-ending battle on a daily basis. Mizuki scowled a little. Oh, how he HATED paperwork. When he came to Sasuke's test paper, he simply put it in a file marked 'Sasuke Uchiha' and filed it away in a metal cabinet next to his desk.

_'My employer will be pleased when he learns that my mission was successful.'_ he inwardly chuckled in a dark tone. He kept grading papers until he finally got to Naruto's paper. _'Now let's see how badly the demon faired-' _His thought process came to a screeching halt when he saw the blond's test paper.

"I...Impossible!" he nearly yelled. Mizuki looked at the paper, absolutely stunned. Every single question had an answer to it, but that wasn't what shocked the headmaster. Naruto had answered almost every single question correctly.

_'Damnit!' _Mizuki mentally screamed. _'I can't just put this in his folder!'_ Mizuki started looking around for an idea. His eyes landed on a nearly blank genin test paper with only one answered question and the name 'Akido Homoki' written on it.

_'Akido-san's paper will do. Besides, that brat really isn't cut out to be a ninja anyway with his total lack of courage; he can't even do a henge or a substitution jutsu so he will likely fail the genin exam, anyway. The best part is that his parents aren't even shinobi and don't expect him to pass. Nobody is going to even consider looking at his records and notice that his test paper is missing.' _

The chunin grinned darkly and did a few hand seals. The ink on the paper came alive and pooled itself. After a few seconds, the pool of ink spread back out and formed the words 'Naruto Uzumaki' at the top right corner of the paper. He then crumpled up Naruto's real test paper and tossed it in the garbage.

Mizuki then went back to grading the rest of the papers. As he finished grading the last paper, he looked up at the clock._ 'It's almost time for the 2nd part of the exam.'_ He got up and walked out the door. He never noticed that someone else was in the room with him, hiding in the shadows.

XXXXX

"Alright class," Iruka spoke. "This will be the final part of your exam. When we call your name, you are to go to the next room where Mizuki-san and myself will ask you to perform three jutsus: henge, substitution, and the clone jutsu. Keep in mind that you must pass this part of the exam in order to be accepted into the Konoha ninja corp. Now, Shino Aburame, you're up..."

One by one, the students went in to take their genin exam and each had come out with a headband, signaling that they had become genin. Naruto's friends passed with no problems whatsoever. Sasuke himself also passed with little trouble.

Surprisingly enough, all of Sasuke's fangirls passed even though the majority barely passed since some of the them didn't perform the jutsus perfectly. Ino and Sakura were the only two out of the fangirls that performed the jutsus flawlessly.

Iruka popped his head into the class filled with waiting students and announced the next person, "Naruto Uzumaki, you're up." Naruto nodded and began to make his way to the next room as his friends all wished him luck. He was almost to the front of the room when Sasuke stopped him.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you fail." Sasuke whispered so that only Naruto could hear. Naruto ignored the Uchiha and continued towards the next room for his test, but Inside Naruto, Kyubi wasn't happy.

"**Just one more reason why I hate that fucking clan." **the demon vixen frowned.

_'I'm not too wild about them either. No wonder half of them split off from the main clan and are now called the 'Uchiwa' clan. They couldn't stand those jackasses, either. At least the Uchiwa clan actually like me.'_ Naruto agreed with his resident demon vixen.

As Naruto entered the next room, he saw Iruka, who gave him a smile, and Mizuki, who seemed to have a look of indifference, but the blond knew better. Mizuki was trying to hide his emotions; and based on the way Mizuki was acting towards the jinchuriki today, the boy suspected that Mizuki was like the civilians in the village when it came to him. Naruto took note of the table to their right, which had a few headbands still sitting there.

"Alright, Naruto..." Iruka began, getting the boy's attention. "For the first jutsu, I want you to perform a henge. You may henge into anything that you like, so long as we know what we are looking at. In order for the henge to be satisfactory, it must be at least 88% accurate. Should there be any missed detail, you will be deducted a 2% penalty for small mistakes, such as jewelry placement, hair color, etc, and a 5% penalty for bigger mistakes such as height and body shape. You may start when ready."

Naruto nodded and thought for a moment. His eyes lit up and reached into one of his pants pockets, pulling out what looked to be a standard storage scroll. _'He knows how to seal things?'_ both chunin thought. Naruto opened the scroll and began to pump some chakra into it. Seconds later, a magazine 'poofed' into existence. Both instructors gave the blond a questioning look, wondering what he was up to. Naruto tossed them the magazine. Iruka raised an eyebrow at the name of the magazine. _'Star Wars: New Essential Guide to __Characters?'_

"Turn to page 157." Naruto instructed.

Once he saw that Iruka had found the correct page, Naruto put his hands into the ram seal and called out, "Henge!" A puff of smoke engulfed the blond for a few seconds. When it cleared, standing there was a figure dressed in all black with a cape and some weird looking panel with buttons on its chest. The figure also seemed to have a strange looking helmet that was also black with a glossy finish. In its right hand was a strange metal cylinder.

"How's this, Iruka-sensei?" the figure asked in a deep, robotic monotoned voice. Iruka simply gawked while Mizuki inwardly scowled. The demon brat was getting ever so close to graduating. If the boy became a genin, he would be out of his reach.

"**You just couldn't resist, could you?"** Naruto heard Kyubi sigh in his mind.

_'Hey, be glad I didn't transform into Jabba the Hutt.'_ Naruto mentally responded.

"**...Don't even joke like that, kit." **Kyubi slightly paled. She may like the Star Wars series, but the one thing that she hated was Jabba the Hut himself. It was bad enough that he was gross looking. He was a womanizer to boot.

"...Excellent job, Naruto. Based on the picture in this magazine you gave me, your henge is 100% accurate. Hinata was the only other student with a perfect henge. Strangely enough, she did the same thing you did and transformed into a person from a magazine." Iruka said.

"Who did she henge into?" Naruto asked out of curiosity.

"Some guy named 'The Rock'." was Iruka's reply, causing Naruto to mentally burst out laughing.

"**Can you blame her, kit? He is rather yummy looking..." **Kyubi commented with a slightly lecherous grin on her face. Naruto mentally sweat-dropped.

_'Kyubi-chan, you're a pervert; you know that, right?' _Naruto deadpanned.

"**So? At least I'm woman enough to admit it. Unlike some of those other little girls in your class." **lazily shot back.

Naruto mentally sighed and shook his head. Deciding not to get too far into such a debate, he refocused on the exam. "What's next, sensei?

"Next up is substitution. I want you to swap places with anything in this room. You either do it or you don't – simple as that. You may start when you are ready." Iruka instructed.

Naruto again went into thought as he scanned the room. Upon spotting a sink in the corner, his faced formed a mischievous grin. Iruka had a slightly worried look on his face. _'Uh oh. He only gets that look when he's about to pull a prank on someone.'_ Kyubi also grinned, as she read the blond's mind. Granted, the prank was simple, but it would get the point across.

Naruto took out yet another scroll and unsealed an un-inflated balloon. He then walked over to the sink and filled it up with water. He then walked back in front of the two chunin instructors.

"Okay, I'm ready." Naruto announced and then tossed the water balloon straight up in the air. Before the two chunin could even ask, Naruto began doing hand seals and was engulfed in a small smoke screen. Iruka was about to say say something when he heard a familiar voice next to him.

"So this is what it's like to be a chunin instructor..."

Iruka turned towards the sound of the voice and was shocked to see Naruto leaning back in Mizuki's chair with his feet on the table.

"Naruto! What are you doing th-" Iruka started to say, but was cut off when Naruto held up a hand, then pointed towards the spot where he was a second ago. Iruka's jaw dropped. Standing in the spot that the blond had previously occupied was Mizuki, who looked confused as all get out. Iruka was about to say something else when Naruto held up his hand again.

"I'm not done yet, sensei. Keep watching." Naruto grinned mischievously. Iruka did indeed keep watching while Mizuki was still slightly annoyed at being used as a substitution. He was about to ask why they kept staring at him until...

_**SPLASH!**_

The water balloon that Naruto had tossed into the air earlier finally came down...on Mizuki's head. Naruto fell out of the chair he was sitting in and burst out laughing. Iruka gave Naruto a slightly stern look, but if anyone were to look closely enough, they would notice the ghost of a smile on the scarred chunin's lips as Iruka was doing his best not crack up himself.

_'...Unbelievable...it should be almost impossible for an academy student to actually swap with another person...and to top it all off, he thought far enough ahead to actually do something to the person he swapped with. Naruto...you just might become the first student to go from dead last to rookie-of-the-year candidate.' _

"_**Good one, kit. I have to admit...that was well thought out. Simple, but well thought out. Had this been a real ninja battle, that fool would be dead."**_ Kyubi praised.

Iruka then noticed that Mizuki was about ready to blow his top and moved to calm him down.

"Calm down, Mizuki. Granted, it was a bit immature, but it also showed that Naruto understands the concept of not only getting out of harms way, but also to put your enemies into it as well. Quite frankly, there aren't that many academy students who think that far ahead using the substitution jutsu, let alone swap with an actual person."

"...fine, I'll let it go since you do make a good point." Mizuki slightly growled. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't fail Naruto for being innovative. _'Damnit! So far, he's done everything right. I may have to resort to killing the demon brat before team placement if he ends up passing the clone test.'_

Mizuki quickly calmed himself down. He not only didn't want the brat to know what was going on, but to a much lesser degree, Iruka as well. He knew that Iruka actually liked the boy and would more than likely report anything suspicious to the hokage.

"Now then, let's move on to your final test, Uzumaki-san." Mizuki continued. "For this last test, you are to make at least two clones using the clone jutsu. You may begin when ready...and NO SHINANIGANS this time, please."

Naruto nodded. "No problem, Mizuki-sensei. I just wanted to get one last prank in before I become genin. I sure as hell won't have time to do them with my duties as a ninja."

Iruka was a bit worried. _'He never was able to learn how to do this jutsu...not with his chakra reserves. I hope he was able to improve his control enough to perform it.'_

The look of worry turned into confusion as he saw Naruto make a hand seal that he knew wasn't the clone jutsu. His confusion then turned to disbelief when he heard Naruto shout:

"**SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"**

Standing behind Naruto were 4 carbon copies of the blond, who all said 'Hi'. For an added effect, one of the clones came over and tapped Iruka on the shoulder.

"Does this work?" the clone asked. Iruka's jaw dropped completely on his desk. _'He actually knows the shadow clone jutsu? How did he learn that? The only people who can do that jutsu without many issues are hokage-sama, Kakashi, and Jiraiya-sama!'_

Iruka continued to stare for a moment more before his face morphed into a grin. "Of course, Naruto. That was more than satisfactory. Go ahead and take a headband from the table over there."

Mizuki was absolutely livid. _'No! The brat was able to actually create shadow clones! When the hell did he learn to use that? What do I do now?' _Mizuki thought. After a moment, a very evil thought crossed his mind. He quickly hid his predatory grin and put on a serious face.

"Hold it." Mizuki stopped the boy before he could touch one of the headbands on the desk. "I'm afraid that I can't award you the title of genin."

The room went deathly silent. Naruto's face gave way to several emotions ranging from shock to confusion...and finally anger. He couldn't put into words how pissed he was...so Kyubi did it for him.

"**What?" **the demon vixen hissed inside his head.

Iruka was also shocked, but recovered fast enough to respond before Naruto could voice some choice words.

"What are you talking about, Mizuki? He performed the clone jutsu just like we asked him to." Iruka said with a frown on his face.

"No he didn't, Iruka. He did a _Shadow _clone jutsu. The test requires him to do a _standard _clone jutsu." Mizuki responded. Iruka just stared at the headmaster like he had grown a second head. _'Since when did it matter what KIND of clone was created? I've never heard of __such a rule before.'_

"**THAT'S BULLSHIT! WHAT KIND OF FUCKING SHIT IS THIS BASTARD TRYING TO PULL?" **Kyubi screamed.

Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw Mizuki flashed a quick and extremely small smirk that he knew all too well, but decided not to act on it at this time.

Iruka didn't like the ruling, but still made an attempt to get Naruto promoted like he should. "...Well then, why don't we just allow him to perform the '_correct'_ clone jutsu, then?" Iruka suggested only for Mizuki to responded somewhat harshly.

"No! He didn't do it correctly and that's my final decision."

Naruto tightened his fists, nearly drawing blood. Iruka was quite unhappy about the whole situation, but was powerless to do anything about it. He turned to the blond with sad look.

"...I...I'm sorry, Naruto. Since he's the headmaster, he has the final say." His mind, however, was saying something else. _'Although I sure as hell think that this is bullshit.'_ He thought, unaware that he had the same thoughts as a certain nine-tailed vixen demoness.

"...It's ok, Iruka-sensei. I'll just have to try again next year." Naruto barely said above a whisper. He turned and slowly made his way to the door.

Iruka had a worried and sad look on his face. _'Naruto...'_

"**..."** Kyubi said nothing, but it was obvious that the vixen was absolutely pissed.

Mizuki held a neutral expression, but inside he was laughing like a maniac. He had finally succeeded in failing the demon. _'Now that the demon is out of the way, I can concentrate on the other task my employer charged me with. Still, stealing the forbidden scroll won't be a walk in the park. I need to be fast enough to outrun the ANBU long enough for me to...'_ Then it struck him. _'Wait...the demon brat always was able to outrun the ANBU. In fact, the only person to ever catch him was Iruka. Hmm...the demon may still be of some use to me...'_

XXXXX

Naruto sat on his swing outside, looking on in sadness as he saw his fellow classmates get hugs and congratulations from friends and loved ones. A large part of him was not only angry, but suspicious as well. Jiraiya taught him the shadow clone jutsu, with the Sandaime's permission, for several purposes – including the genin exam. Couple with the fact that Mizuki tried too hard to hide his emotions towards the boy and it was obvious that something was wrong. It baffled him...until after failing the exam. That ghost of a smirk on Mizuki's face finally clicked.

_'So...he really is just like the villagers...'_

"_**So you noticed it too, eh?"**_ came Kyubi's voice. Naruto gave her a mental nod.

"**If it wasn't obvious enough from that bullshit he pulled back in the test room, it's pretty obvious now that Mizuki intended to fail you...one way or another."**

One comment from Sasuke was what got the blond thinking that something wasn't stirring the kool-aid.

FLASHBACK

_'So, dobe...how does it feel to be the only student in academy history dumb enough to make the wrong kind of clone during the genin exam?'_

END FLASHBACK

At first, the statement nearly caused the blond to try and strangle the pompous Uchiha, but logic made the eleventh hour save and had forced him to simply push pass Sasuke without saying a word.

_'None of his fangirls knew how I failed, which is normal since test information is considered classified. So how the hell does the teme know how I failed the test?' _There were only two people who knew: Iruka and Mizuki.

He immediately ruled Iruka out for three reasons: (1) the scarred chunin always helped him with his studies and always stuck up for him out in public. (2) He was very much against Mizuki's decision at the genin exam, and (3) The chunin had left right after Naruto's test due to a summons by the hokage.

That left Mizuki.

Naruto wasn't stupid. He was certain that Mizuki had somehow let the information slip to Sasuke, but how? _'Mizuki never made contact with the teme while with the other students. So how did he...' _Naruto mentally froze and went back over what he just said in his mind. After a moment, he mentally growled, which didn't go unnoticed by Kyubi. _'Sasuke was the last student to take the exam.'_

"**You're learning..." **Kyubi remarked.

_'I'm not stupid, you know.' _Naruto thought dryly.

"**Not anymore."**

_'...point taken, but enough about that. Something needs to be done about this.'_

"**I agree. I think we should go tell...wait...strike that. Mizuki is walking up from behind you."** Kyubi informed.

_'I don't care what direction he's walking from. As far as I'm concerned, he's walking into a beatdown.'_ Naruto thought darkly.

"**Cool it, kit; He's a chunin. Besides, he doesn't have a weapon at the ready and I don't sense any killing intent. Let's see what he wants first. He just might do something to incriminate himself. Activate that eye jutsu of yours, but keep the visual quality at a minimum. You haven't mastered the technique enough to go at a higher quality without your eyes glowing."** Naruto gave the vixen a mental nod and turned around to face the last person he wanted to see without giving away too much of his real opinion of the headmaster.

"What do you want, Mizuki-sensei? Naruto asked in a low voice.

"Naruto...I would like to apologize for the way a acted in the testing room." Mizuki said in a not-so-obvious fake apologetic tone. However, it wasn't enough to fool the blond. _'He's up to something...'_

"**I agree. Be on guard, kit."** Kyubi warned. Naruto gave her a quick 'yes ma'am' before mentally turning his attention back to Mizuki.

"I realize that because of your large chakra capacity, it would have been impossible to make a regular clone. That's why I've decided to give you a second chance." Mizuki offered.

"Second chance?" Naruto echoed. He heard Kyubi mumbling 'bullshit' and quietly agreed.

"Yes. The shadow clone jutsu isn't a jutsu that you can find just anywhere...outside the forbidden scroll." Mizuki pointed out with a smile that Naruto knew was a cover for a smirk.

"For your...make up exam, I want you to go and get the scroll the jutsu is located in. Once you do that, I want you to meet me in the back woods of the Uchiha compound. I will be waiting with your headband. By the way, please don't tell anyone about this test. I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to explain to some parents why their kids weren't given this type of test when they failed. So, do you accept this make-up exam?" Mizuki asked.

Naruto thought about asking why he wanted the forbidden scroll, but thought better of it. It wouldn't do for Mizuki to think that he was smarter than he lead on. That didn't keep him from forming his own opinions.

"Sure thing, Mizuki-sensei! I'll have that forbidden scroll for you tonight and you'll be forking over that headband to me!" Naruto said with faux enthusiasm.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend before we meet tonight." Mizuki said and walked back into the academy building. As soon as the chunin was out of sight, Naruto's fake smile dropped and was replaced with a frown.

_'If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's trying to get me to commit treason.'_ Naruto thought, narrowing his eyes at the departing Mizuki.

"**Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner."** Kyubi said. **"So, what do you want to do about this?"**

_'Jiji needs to know about this, NOW. Most jonin aren't allowed anywhere near that scroll, let alone a chunin. From there, we can come up with a plan to catch his ass in the act.'_


	3. Chapter 3  Springing the Trap

Starfire99 – 1)Actually if you've seen the anime, there are signs of modern technology present. For instance, after the Sasuke retrieval mission fails, Konoha's hospital is shown to have laptops and the like. Also, during the chunin exam arc, ANBU agents are shown to be reviewing a recording of the sand team breaking the record for fastest team to reach the tower. As for the real world, it will be explained later. Sooner or later, the shinobi world will learn of a certain man that has made such a thing possible. 2)Making Orochimaru a good guy is a major change, yes, but that doesn't mean there will be a shortage of villains. This is a AU fic. Everyone knows how canon plays out. Why do something everyone else has already done? 3)The reason why is that you probably haven't played "InFamous" for PS3. Don't worry: I haven't explained all of Naruto's powers for a reason: he hasn't learned all of them. As I stated before, he will be strong, but he can't win agaisnt a jonin head-to-head by himself.

ArrancarKage – Sasuke, no. He's important in this story. Mizuki – honestly haven't decided yet what to do with him. He's still alive until I state otherwise.

Morlandros – A few of your thoughts are in the neighborhood, although I won't tell you which ones. You'll just have to keep reading. Yes, Mizuki is a pathetic character – which you will see for yourself in this chapter.

Raw666 – Oh you are going to love this chapter...

Fox-Sama – As the story goes on, there will be more "talking" since I won't being doing many time skips. As for Sakura, she turns it around albeit inner Sakura straightening her out some. I have always wondered what would have happened if not everyone in the Uchiha clan liked what their higher ups were planning. Besides, I didn't want to make the entire Uchiha clan evil; that's been done a lot already. Believe me, it's not there just for the sake of change. I dare say that the split is one of the most important parts of this story.

Karl Skywalker – That was put in there because you just don't change a character's "side" out of clear blue sky. By the way, you will be seeing the person who gave him a look into the future again, just not soon. Itachi going rogue in this story won't make a lot of sense and seeing as he didn't like where the clan was headed, in both this story and canon, I decided to make him head of the Uchiwa clan. I gave Hinata much more confidence because I think she can be a strong character. Still, I didn't want to completely change her so I left a little bit of her shyness in (although she doesn't let it dominate her). Ino will indeed wake up faster than Sakura, but our little pinky will see the light as well.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or InFamous.**

**Chapter 3: Springing the Trap**

Mizuki could hardly believe his luck. The demon brat actually fell for it. Mizuki knew that almost no student would fall for such an obvious lie, hence the reason he approached Naruto and not any of the other academy students. _'The Kyubi may have been vicious; but apparently, it isn't very smart.'_ Mizuki smirked as he waited for Naruto to finish his 'test'. The plan was simple: have the demon brat steal the forbidden scroll and bring it to him. Once the boy delivered the scroll, he would simply attack and kill the little monster before creating a duplicate of the forbidden scroll. Then when the ANBU arrived to assess the situation, he would claim that the boy attempted to leave the village and was forced to stop him. Once the ANBU secured the 'forbidden scroll', Mizuki would then take the scroll back to his employer, who would pay the chunin enough to buy an entire city block, or enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

It was an hour past the time the boy was supposed to have met with him and Mizuki was starting to get slightly impatient. _'The demon brat is late. Even Kakashi the copy ninja was never this late for something important.' _Just as he banished these thoughts, he heard a noise from below the tree he was in and glanced down. An predatory grinned formed as he saw Naruto sit down on the ground to wait. A rather large scroll was sitting next to him. It never dawned on him how Naruto was able to approach his location without the traitorous chunin sensing his chakra signature. _'Just as I thought. He was able to obtain the forbidden scroll. Now...'_

Mizuki was about to jump out of the tree when another figure unexpectedly showed up. Mizuki scowled. _'Iruka...' _he mentally spat. While he hated the demon brat more, he never really liked Iruka at all, either. In his opinion, the man cuddled his students far too much for his liking. The young chunin instructor was just too caring to be a true ninja. He listened in as Iruka berated the boy for doing something so rash.

"Naruto! Do you have ANY idea what you've done? Stealing the forbidden scroll is considered treason against the village!" Iruka shouted, obviously concerned. "I understand why you're angry, I really do. In fact, I honestly have to say that Mizuki made the wrong decision by not allowing you to become a genin, but doing this isn't going to solve your problems!"

"Why not sensei?" Naruto asked, seemingly confused. "Mizuki-sensei told me that if I brought the scroll here, I would become a genin. He called it a 'make-up' exam."

At this, Iruka froze. "Naruto...is this true?"

The boy nodded. Mizuki frowned for a moment before an evil blood thirsty grin formed. _'Why not? I never liked that goody too-shoes anyway. My employer did mention something about forcing him out of the academy at some point in the future. Maybe he'll pay me a little extra for doing it earlier than expected.'_

"Yeah, but what's the big deal?" Naruto asked, feigning ignorance.

"...Damnit. I should have known something was wrong when he failed you. We need to see the hokage as soon as p-" Iruka said before being cut off by Naruto tackling him to the ground, narrowly avoiding a windmill shuriken that seemed to come out of the darkness and embed itself into the nearby tree.

"Good job, Naruto. You've done quite well by getting the scroll." Mizuki said as he jumped down from his hiding spot. "Now, the scroll...give it to me."

Iruka was shocked as he finally figured out what was really going on. The scarred chunin was about to yell to him not to hand over the scroll when he was cut off by Naruto's answer.

"No."

For a small moment, there was nothing but silence, before it was broken.

"What did you say?" Mizuki half growled.

"You heard me, trash. I'm not handing shit over."

The blond looked up to stare at Mizuki, who's eyes widened. His eyes were giving off an angry blue glow. Iruka also saw his eyes.

"Did you really think I was THAT stupid? Even a retarded monkey could tell this was a setup." Naruto glared coldly.

"N-Naruto? W...Why are your eyes glowing like that?" the chunin stuttered.

Naruto glanced over at Iruka and answered, "I'll tell you later, Iruka-sensei – I promise. After everything you've done for me, I owe you at least that much. But before that, the garbage over there needs to be taken to the curb."

Mizuki simply laughed. "Do you honestly think you can beat me, demon? I'm a chunin level shinobi, and you're just an academy brat. Iruka has a better chance against me, but even he isn't good enough." He then looked over towards said chunin and smirked darkly.

"Say, I have an idea, Iruka. Why don't we tell the little monster why the village hates his guts?"

Iruka's eyes widened in horror. "Mizuki, no! That's forbidden!"

"Do you remember a lesson on the Attack of the Kyubi?" Mizuki continued, ignoring Iruka's pleads. Naruto feigns a look of interest, deciding to play along.

"Of course I do. It was killed by the Yondaime. What's that have to do with anything?" Naruto asks.

"Plenty. You see, the demon fox being killed by the 4th was completely untrue. The Yondaime couldn't kill the monster so instead, he sealed him into a newborn baby...you. YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILED FOX!" Mizuki laugh maniacally as he gleefully waited for the boy to break down and cry. Naruto, who simply smirked, decided that enough was enough and dropped the bomb.

"You're a bit late with that information, you jackass."

For a fleeting moment, it seemed like the entire forest went deathly silent. Both chunin stared at the boy in complete shock. Iruka was the first to recover.

"Naruto...y-ou...already knew?"

"Pretty much Iruka-sensei, but now's not the time to talk about this." Naruto answered before turning his attention back to Mizuki, who had recovered from his shock and grinned darkly.

"So you knew already. Still, it makes no difference; once I kill you, my task will be complete."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that last piece of information. _'So...Hebi-sensei and Ero-sennin were right...he __is__ working for __someone. I wonder...' _He mentally thought, thinking back to the genin exam.

"Naruto..." Iruka said, bringing the blond out of his thoughts. "Let me handle Mizuki. I don't know what he plans on doing with the scroll, but it's apparent that he is now considered a village traitor. Take the scroll and get away from here!"

"Like you could, Iruka. Still, if you want to die with the demon so badly, I will be only too happy to grant your final request!" Mizuki shouted the last part as he took the windmill shuriken of his back and flung it at Naruto and Iruka. Both jumped out of the way as the shuriken buried itself into the tree they used to be in front of.

Iruka was about to reach into his pouch to take out a kunai when he felt someone grab his hand. Iruka looked up to see Mizuki as he was wagging his finger as if to say 'na uh uh'. Before the dolphin could do anything in response, Mizuki kicked him in the chest. Iruka could have sworn he heard a 'snap, crackle, and pop' as he was sent flying into a tree. Mizuki simply waltzed up to the injured teacher.

"Tell me, Iruka...why do you defend that monster when you yourself became an orphan because of the Kyubi?" Mizuki sneered.

"Yes, it's true...I was an orphan because of the Kyubi attack." Iruka grunted still in pain from the kick to his ribs, which he noted might be broken. "But I refuse to blame a boy who had no choice in the matter when the Kyubi was sealed inside him. If you can't see that with your own eyes, Mizuki, then we have nothing more to talk about."

"Still refuse to see the truth, do you? Too bad. I was going to save you for last, but I think it would be better if I got rid of you now." Mizuki said, pulling out a potion and consuming the entire flask. To Iruka's horror, Mizuki started to change. His muscles grew at an alarming rate while his skin started to change into fur, which resembled a bengal tiger. Even his ears started to change into ears that looked to belong to a feline. Once the transformation was completed, the traitorous nin gave Iruka a predatory grin, revealing several sharp fangs.

"Mizuki...what...have you done to yourself?" Iruka gasped.

"Hahaha, Impressive isn't it? This formula increases my power and stamina. You should be honored, Iruka. I was going to test it out on the demon first, but I simply couldn't wait that long. Now..." Mizuki reached down and grabbed Iruka by his chunin jacket and lifted him off the ground, bring him face to face with the chunin turned bengal beast.

"Any last words before I rip you to pieces?" Mizuki growled out with his grin still present. Iruka didn't say anything. He'd be damned if he gave Mizuki what he wanted. Mizuki, seeing that he wasn't going to get another word out of Iruka, shrugged and raised his clawed hand/paw above his head, preparing to end the chunin's life.

He never got a chance as something slammed into the side of his face, separating him from Iruka, sending him flying back nearly 20 yards. Mizuki was about to demand who hit him when he heard a ice cold voice speak up.

"You should be asking yourself that question."

Mizuki instantly looked up and saw Naruto Uzumaki standing in front of Iruka.

"You little SHIT!" Mizuki screamed, as he charged the blond. The traitor was so focused on ending the boy's life, he never saw a clone intercept him with a kick aimed right at the side of his face, sending him crashing into a nearby tree. Mizuki was about to get back up when he realized that he was much slower than before. Mizuki glared at Naruto, who simply gave him the 'people's eyebrow'. [A/N: For you non-WWE fans, the people's eyebrow is when The Rock raises his eyebrow after saying, "If ya smell what the Rock is cookin'."]

"You do know that Thundercats has been off the air for more than 2 decades, right?" Naruto drawled. He heard Kyubi roar with laughter at his remark towards Mizuki. The taunt seemed to only anger Mizuki even more. He wanted to attack the boy, but found his moves to be very sluggish. He had very little strength and knew that if he tried to attack while in his current state, the boy could easily injure him further.

"What did you do to me? Mizuki shouted.

Naruto simply smirked as a light blue glow radiated off of the boy. Mizuki's eye's widened when he noticed that small threads of electricity were flowing from the boy's body. That's when it hit him.

"You did something to my nervous system." Mizuki realized. Naruto's smirk only got wider.

"So...you finally figured it out. Guess you're not a complete fool after all. It's a kekkei genkai...and it allows me complete control over electricity." Naruto explained.

"How is that a bloodline limit, demon brat? More than half of Kumo's ninja force can use lightning in their jutsus!" Mizuki fired back, but had a sudden sense of dread when Naruto's grin remained plastered on the boy's face.

"Yes, they can use lightning, but there are two major differences. One, my lightning abilities go far beyond jutsus. The very essence of the element is imbedded into my DNA, which means that a can use it for many more things than jutsus." There was much more, but Naruto decided not to voice it. Nothing good ever came out of talking about abilities that haven't been seen yet.

Mizuki gritted his teeth. He hated to admit it, but that WAS a rather potentially powerful bloodline limit. Still, he figured that the use of such a power would suck the boy dry of chakra, even with the Kyubi sealed in him.

"That is quite a power...but just like everything else, it still uses chakra for power and I'm sure it is quite the guzzler." Mizuki smirked, thinking he had called the boy's bluff. His blood ran cold when Naruto smiled very darkly at him.

"That's the 2nd major difference; my kekkei genkai runs off a separate and completely independent power system. In other words, its chakra consumption is absolutely zero. That said, I do have the ability to mix the two power systems to come up with jutsu that only I can use."

Mizuki paled. _'I-Impossible! Such a bloodline limit easily surpasses most and may even rival the sharingan! It's bad enough that the brat has more chakra than anyone else in the village, but now I find out that he has something like THIS?'_

While Mizuki was lost in his thoughts, Naruto walked over and helped Iruka up off the ground. "Are you ok, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in concern. Iruka gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Don't worry, Naruto; I'm fine. Just a few cracked ribs is all – nothing Tsunade-sama can't fix." Naruto grinned, happy that his mentor wasn't seriously injured. He then turned and walked towards Mizuki.

"If that potion was what I think it was, I believe it's time I reversed the effects." Naruto said as he reached into one of the poaches on his pants and pulled out a piece of paper with the kanji for "Anti-transformation" and slapped it on Mizuki's chest. The tag took effect immediately, changing Mizuki back to his human form.

"I knew something was off about you." Naruto spoke.

"What are talking about, demon brat?" Mizuki sneered, but immediately regretted it when he felt not just Naruto's KI, but Iruka's as well.

"You have no right to talk, Mizuki – not after you just turned yourself into a bengal tiger." Iruka said in an uncharacteristically cold tone. "I think I understand what Naruto is saying. I wholeheartedly disagreed with you failing him at the genin exam and the fact that he just single-handedly took you down certainly isn't going to get me to change my mind. I now think that you purposely failed him just because of the Kyubi sealed inside him."

Mizuki just smirked at the chunin's accusation. "Even if it is true...you have nothing to back up your claim. Without any kind of proof, the demon will still be drummed out of the program and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about that."

Iruka clenched his fist in anger. _'...he's right. Without evidence of his tampering, Naruto will still be labeled a failure and the civilian council will most certainly move to drum him out of the academy. Damn you, Mizuki...' _He thought as he heard Mizuki continue to weakly laugh. It didn't last long as a cold voice seemed to rang out of nowhere.

"I always knew you were a piece of shit, Mizuki."

Everyone turned to see no other than Cole McGrath with his arms folded, standing on a branch glaring coldly down at Mizuki. "Did you really think that the kid was stupid enough to fail for that shit?"

"The little monster asked me that earlier. The little bastard did exactly what I told him to do-" Mizuki shot back, but was cut off by another new voice.

"-After he came and told Sarutobi-sensei and ourselves about your little scheme." Mizuki turned around and was about to fire an insult at the person, but immediately paled when he saw one of three sannin staring coldly at him – Orochimaru.

"Your fate was sealed the moment you tried to get Naruto-kun to steal the forbidden scroll for you. As for there being no evidence of you tampering with his exam...I'm afraid you are woefully mistaken there as well." Orochimaru smirked and turned to Naruto, who was also smirking. Mizuki was now starting to sweat.

"You're bluffing, sannin! What possible evidence could you have?" Mizuki shouted, but everyone knew it was a bravado.

"You're only half right, Mizuki-teme. Orochi-sensei doesn't have the evidence...but I do." Naruto grinned as he pulled out a scroll with the Kanji for "Recorder" on it. He immediately unrolled the scroll, laid it out on the ground, and went through a series of hand seals.

"**Lightning Fusion Art: Ocular Replay Jutsu"**

The scroll immediately began to glow as the seal on the scroll seemed to levitate off of it. The seal shimmered out of sight and in it's place was a three-dimensional image. Mizuki's eyes slightly widened as he recognized what he was looking at. It was the same classroom that the genin exam was held in earlier.

"Now then..." Naruto started in a serious tone...before turning around and show his trademark fox grin. "Does anybody have any popcorn?" Everyone sweat-dropped at the blond's antics.

(Cole/covers his face with one hand) _'Kid...sometimes I wonder...' _

(Orochimaru/shakes his head) _'Must you, Naruto-kun?'_

(Iruka/pinches the bridge of his nose) _'He may have improved by leaps and bonds...but he's still Naruto.'_

(Mizuki/eye twitches) _'...I've been out-smarted...by this?.'_

(Kyubi/groans) _**'He maybe smarter than most genin...but he's still a goofy-ass at times.'**_

After a moment, Naruto decided that it was time to be serious again and put his hands into the ram seal.

"Ripure-Hajimeru. (Begin Replay)" Naruto says. The 3-D image suddenly starts to go in motion. After a few seconds, Mizuki notices that the blond jinchuriki is nowhere to be seen in the recording. Then it dawned on him. The recording is from Naruto's point of view. The recording showed the boy's test questions, causing Iruka's eyes to widen.

"Those are chunin level questions..." the dolphin gasped.

"Oh, it gets better..." Naruto said somewhat dryly, motioning everyone to continue watching. At around the 00:00:34 mark, the image zoomed in on Sasuke Uchiha, or rather his test paper, pre-written answers and all.

"Mizuki! What is the meaning of this?" Iruka nearly shouted in anger.

"It's not like he would have failed, Iruka. He is a prodigy, after all; unlike the demon..." Mizuki shot back.

"**...kit...when you find a way to summon me, I want first crack at morons like him." **Kyubi growled.

"Oh _really?_" Naruto cut in, giving the traitor a cold glare before turning to Iruka. "Keep watching, Iruka-sensei; you're gonna _love_ this..." He grinned. The recording showed Naruto answering the test questions. However, that's not what shocked Iruka and most notably, Mizuki.

"Naruto...you answered every single one of those questions correctly. Even I wasn't able to answer some of these..." Iruka said above a whisper in near total shock. _'When did Naruto get THIS smart? Shikamaru is the only other student who could answer most if not all of those questions, mainly because he's a genius. Sakura could answer a few, but that's only through book smarts, not being a genius...'_

The recording stopped as Naruto canceled the jutsu with the ram seal, then rolled the scroll up and put it back into the same pocket he stored it in earlier.

Mizuki could do nothing but grind his anger. _'Impossible! The demon brat is suppose to be an idiot, yet he managed to answer every single question! Where did he get his knowledge? Still...'_

"It doesn't matter. I've already graded the papers and according to the papers I have, Naruto Uzumaki didn't answer a single question." Mizuki smirked, but dropped when he saw Orochimaru smirk at him.

"And I suppose Homoki-san just sat in the middle of the room without a test paper, right?" the snake sannin drawled. Mizuki was confused for a moment, before he suddenly realized what Orochimaru was saying. _'...he was spying on me!'_

"Yes...I was in the office while you were grading papers. You even made a nice 3-point shot using Naruto-kun's _chunin level _test."

"So what was that about no proof, Mizuki-teme?" Naruto glared.

"So what? You still failed because you made the wrong kind of clones!" Mizuki yelled with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Fool. You know damn well that there is no such rule. Garbage like you are the reason why Naruto-kun has had a horrible life." Orochimaru growled.

"No arguments here. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of your bullshit, Mizuki." Cole spat.

"Mizuki..." Iruka said coldly. "As far as I'm concerned, your evaluation means nothing as you are now a criminal of Konoha. By rule, I exercise my right to relieve you of your position; and as my first act as interim headmaster, I herby overrule your final decision on Naruto's genin exam and promote him to genin."

"You can't do that! You don't have the right!" Mizuki screamed in rage.

"Actually, Iruka-san does." came a new voice. Everyone looked to the direction of the voice to see none other than the Sandaime, the God of Shinobi himself.

"**Somebody's fuuuucked..." **Kyubi said in a sing-song tone.

"Mizuki, you have betrayed your village by attempting to steal the forbidden scroll. What do you have to say for yourself?" Sarutobi's tone was calm, but everyone knew better; the God of Shinobi was angry.

"You old piece of shit. You won't be able to last forever, that I can prom-" Mizuki growled, but instantly stopped when he felt a VERY LARGE KI hit him in full force which, to his surprise and horror, came from Naruto. Mizuki froze with fear when he saw the blond; his eyes were glowing an extremely luminant blue with a large amount of electricity flowing around his body.

"I've had enough of this, you piece of trash. You _will _show hokage-sama the respect he deserves, but since I know you don't have the balls to apologize..." Naruto said in a low icy tone and put his fingers together to form an "X". Within seconds, 50 Narutos shimmered into existence. Mizuki's eyes widened in complete terror. He was going to be in severe pain and he knew it.

"...my clones will simply beat an apology out of you."

Mizuki never even got a chance to scream as all 50 clones leapt towards the traitor and began beating the bejesus out of him. While Cole, Orochimaru, and Sarutobi looked on as if the action was an everyday thing to them, Iruka's jaw was completely on the ground. Iruka was an instructor and knew about the shadow clone jutsu. The jutsu was classified as a kinjutsu because most ninja, even jonins, couldn't execute the move in a completely safe fashion because the jutsu required a monster amount of charka. Naruto could not only could execute the jutsu, but create 50 shadow clones – the most ANYONE has ever created - and he wasn't anywhere near the point of chakra depletion.

After what seemed like hours, Sarutobi decided to bring the 50-clone beatdown to a close. "Alright, Naruto; I believe you've made your point..." - _'Although I'd rather see it continue' - "..._besides, Ibiki wouldn't be too happy with you if you severely injured him too much."

"**Aww, already? I was hoping to see Naruto-kun beat some more blood out of him..." **Kyubi half whined.

_'Jiji's right, Kyubi-chan. As much as I would love to fuck him up some more, we need information on who hired him and why.'_ Naruto responded. Kyubi gave a small pout, but agreed nonetheless.

Naruto simply nodded to the old kage and instructed his clones to dispel. When the smoke from the dispelled clones cleared, there on the ground was a very bloody and nearly deformed Mizuki. Cole and Orochimaru praised the blond's handling of the whole situation before grabbing Mizuki and disappear, taking him to one of the shinobi world's most feared interrogators, Ibiki Morino. Sarutobi also commended the boy on making the right decision and stated to Iruka that he would be permanently appointed as the Academy's headmaster and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Naruto and Iruka.

"One of these days, I'm going to learn how to do that..." Naruto murmured.

"Naruto..." Iruka said, getting the boy's attention. "You deserve this now even more than you did earlier. I know it has been a tough road for you, but today...you took a major step towards becoming hokage." Iruka smiled, untying his headband from his forehead and tying it to Naruto's head. "Congratulations Naruto, genin of the Konoha ninja corp. You've earned this more than anyone. Wear it with pride."

Naruto began to get misty-eyed, but held back the tears of joy and smiled at his teacher before embracing Iruka with a hug. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei...for everything."

"No problem, Naruto." Iruka said softly. "Since you graduated, why don't I take you out for some ramen?"

Naruto's face lit up upon hearing Iruka's offer to treat him to his favorite food. "Thanks Iruka-sensei! Well, what are we waiting for? I'm starving!" Naruto said, his hyper nature showing through as he dragged Iruka towards Ichiraku.

Inside, Kyubi couldn't help but smile warmly at the boy. Everything had worked out in the end, even if the path was much bumpier than they had anticipated. _**'Not bad, Naruto-kun...not bad at all.' **_

XXXXX

**Konoha Ninja Academy – 8:12 AM**

All the genin who had graduated were in the classroom, waiting for Iruka to arrive to assign them to teams. While most of the class chatted away, happy about becoming genin; some students remained quiet. Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were clearly upset. They knew that there were people who were against Naruto, despite not knowing why, but they still thought that the blond would graduate right with them. Shino, while normally quiet anyway, also seemed down.

Kin had a sad look on her face; Naruto always treated Tayuya and herself with respect and had hoped that he would graduate with them. Tayuya was simply fuming. She knew what it was like to be hated for no reason. Her previous village had shunned her for something that her parents had done. Despite the fact that she was publicly and privately disgusted with them for what they had done and her family for defending it, she was still treated like trash. She saw how Mizuki looked at Naruto. _'I'll bet my whole fucking Ichi-Ichi collection that he sabotaged Naruto's exam...'_ She looked over towards Naruto's group of friends. _'Seems like they think something's up too...'_

As if on cue, Kiba broke the silene between the group.

"Bullshit." the Inuzuka spat. "Absolute bullshit."

"Tell me about it. This situation is highly troublesome." Shikamaru agreed.

"Naruto should have graduated along with us seeing as he was the strongest amongst us. I smell a rat..." Choji added. This got the attention of Shino, Tayuya, and Rin.

_'The fuck? Granted, he's pretty good, but the strongest?'_ Tayuya mentally questioned.

_'...They know something that the rest of the class doesn't. What that 'something' is remains elusive even to me.' _Shino pondered.

While Shino and Tayuya kept their thoughts to themselves, Kin uncharacteristically voiced hers. "What are you talking about? Sure he wasn't anywhere near being the deadlast, but he wasn't the strongest. Wouldn't that be Hinata?"

"No, I'm not." Everyone turned towards the Hyuga heir, who had her eyes closed. To most people, it looked like she was deep in thought and for the most part, she was. Hinata was certain that Naruto would pass, as she had seen him do all of the necessary jutsus to pass the exam many times. She knew that somehow, Mizuki played a part in this based on the way he looked at Naruto with such disdain. However, her friends knew that Hinata closed her eyes for a different reason. If she opened her eyes, tears would spill out like a knocked over glass of water.

"Naruto is much stronger than me. The only reason he didn't have the best scores is because some of us, including Iruka-sensei, suspect that some of the chunin instructors have purposely tried to sabotage Naruto-niichan's education with some degree of success early on. The fact that it almost completely stopped after Iruka took charge of our class seems to support this." Hinata explained with an even voice, despite her real feelings about the whole situation.

"Based on what I have seen, your theory is indeed a logical one." Shino spoke up, which surprised most since the bug-user didn't speak often.

"The Aburame's right; as far as I'm concerned, Naruto is one of the best this class has to offer. Hell, even Neji from last year isn't as good as him." Kin spoke up.

"It's a fucking shame. Not only is he good, but he's also a pretty decent guy, too – unlike that piece of Uchiha garbage over there." Tayuya said spitting out Sasuke's clan name like a nasty piece of food.

Sasuke, who had been listening to the whole thing, decided to add insult to injury, starting with the red-haired beauty. "Tayu-chan, I'm hurt. I would have thought a strong kunoichi like you would admire a strong ninja like myself and not that deadlast loser."

"How many times must I say it, you fucking little jutsu thief? I don't like you, period...and if you call me 'Tayu-chan' again, I'm going to kick your balls up and out of your throat!"

Sasuke ignored her threat and looked at Kin. "Surely _you_ can appreciate my power..."

"Don't even try, Uchiha. I don't like you anymore than Tayuya does." Kin snapped. Sasuke frowned at his latest attempt to make a move on Tayuya and Kin, but then smirked when he turned his attention towards the rest of the group, intending to taunt them.

"Are you still upset over the dobe failing? Get over it. We all knew he was a loser and Mizuki-sensei proved it yesterday. Considering what he is, he should just drop dead." Sasuke goaded, hoping to get one of them to start a fight with him, which could eventually get them in trouble. Ami and most of the fangirls laughed at the group, wondering why they supported such a loser. Shikamaru and Choji scowled at Sasuke's verbal assault. Shino remained quiet, but his bugs were angrily buzzing up as storm. Kiba and Akamaru were outright growling at the Uchiha. Hinata looked like she was really going to cry despite the glare she was sending him. How could they be so cruel? Sasuke saw this and decided to press the attack even more.

"I guess I can't blame you for crying, Hyuga. Not only are you NOT going to win ROTY, but you'll also have to move on without the little loser." Sasuke taunted, getting even more jeers from his fan club.

He was about to continue when he heard the last voice he expected to hear. "Man, you must like to hear yourself talk don't you, teme?" Everyone in the classroom whipped their heads towards the door to see Naruto standing in it with his arms crossed with a neutral look on his face.

While most of the class was confused as to why the Naruto was even here since they had found out that he had supposedly failed the genin exam, his friends noticed that he was wearing a Konoha headband. Apparently, he hadn't failed after all.

"Naruto!" Hinata half-shouted, happy to see Naruto. The blond simply nodded in their direction with a small smile.

"What are you doing here, dobe?" Sasuke scowled at the blond. Naruto walked towards Sasuke and stopped a few inches apart, almost beside him but the two could still see each other. The Uchiha was about to repeat himself when Naruto cut him off.

"Yesterday's little stunt didn't work, you cheating little bastard." Naruto hissed only low enough for Sasuke to hear causing said Uchiha's eyes to widen shock. Unknown to Sasuke, Kiba and Akamaru had picked up on the conversation due to Inuzuka clan's ability to heighten their senses by applying chakra to their extremities.

"I don't know what you're talking about, dobe." Sasuke said, but Naruto wasn't fooled at all. While he isn't skilled enough to read minds...yet, he had enough control of his electrical powers to sense pulses very close to him...and Sasuke's heart skipped a beat.

"I think you do, teme." Naruto said, continuing to ignore a few of the fangirls demanding what he was doing here.

"Then why don't you prove it." Sasuke sneered, trying to intimidate him into backing off. Naruto didn't immediately respond, which caused Sasuke to smirk at him as if to say 'I just got away with it and you can't do ANYTHING about it'. His smirk disappeared when he saw Naruto give of a very dark grin.

"I don't have to. Your involvement is going to cost you..._dobe._" Naruto left the words hanging in the air as he walked past Sasuke and towards his friends, leaving the rest of the class to talk amongst themselves in a low volume.

Sasuke had a deep frown on his face, but inside he was absolutely worried. _'How did he find out...and why the hell did he call me 'dobe'?'_

His thought was cut short when Iruka shunshined into the room. "Alright everyone, take your seats." Seeing that the class wasn't aware that he had shown up, Iruka started to go through the hand seals for his big head no jutsu, but someone had beaten him to it.

"**WILL YOU FUCKERS SHUT THE HELL UP!"**

The whole room immediately went silent as they all turned to see where the voice came from. To nobody's surprise, Tayuya simple stood there with her right eye twitching like crazy. She then turned towards Iruka.

"Floor's yours, scar face." Tayuya said. Iruka was slightly annoyed by the nickname, but didn't take total offense to it. Tayuya preferred nicknames and rarely called people by their proper name, although she did call the chunin instructor by his name every now and then. Her language was also a bit (...ok, a LOT) on the foul side; but they were ninjas – nobody said their language had to be civil outside of formal meetings. _'Crude, but at least she saved me from having to do it.'_

"...Thank you, Tayuya-san. First, I would like to congratulate all of you on your promotion to genin-"

"Why is Uzumaki here, Iruka-sensei? He isn't even a genin; he failed yesterday!" Ami interrupted, only to shut her trap when Iruka gave her a glare that said 'Shut the hell up, you little shit'.

"I would appreciate it if you NOT interrupt me, Ami-san." Iruka said in an even tone, although everyone knew that his thoughts were anything but. Iruka glanced at Naruto for a second, who gave a slight nod.

"Get on with it, Iruka. I don't have all day; and where's Mizuki-sensei while we're at it?" Sasuke said in a bored tone. While most of his fangirls had stars in their eyes, mentally praising how cool he was, Sakura and Ino's eyes widened. Sasuke was blatantly disrespecting their chunin-sensei, something both girls were taught was almost NEVER ok. Everyone else was shaking their heads at such an act of stupidity. Naruto had a shit-eating grin as three words entered his mind...

In another universe near a moon called 'Endor', the rebel alliance were in the middle of attacking the 2nd Imperial Death Star when at that moment, several groups of star destroyers exited hyperspace, blocking off any possible exit strategy. On the lead rebel ship, Admiral Akbar could only stare in horror as he said those famous words that managed to sum it all up.

"It's a trap!"

Iruka gave him a very dark look; a look that none of the newly promoted genin had ever seen on the scarred chunin.

"So...you want to know what happened to _him,_ do you?"

Although taken aback by Iruka's sudden change in demeanor, the Uchiha ignored the obvious warning signs and continued with his line of questioning.

"Didn't I just ask that?" Sasuke rudely responded. While the rest of the class was either shocked (most), starry-eyed (fangirls), or waiting patiently for the outcome (Naruto), one person was just plain angry. Hinata, as nice as she is, was a very scary person to deal with when someone hurt or disrespected someone she had taken a liking to. She was about to verbally lash out at the disrespectful little Uchiha tart when she felt someone's hand gently clamp down on her left shoulder. She turned to find Naruto with a grin on his face.

"Don't worry; he's about to get his." Naruto smirked.

"Alright Uchiha, seeing as how you asked so _nicely._" Iruka responded, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "As of last night, Mizuki is no longer a Konoha shinobi, let alone this academy's headmaster."

There was a collective gasp in the room. The headmaster of the Konoha Ninja Academy not a shinobi? What was going on? Sasuke had a look of shock on his face. His face quickly turned back into a frown.

"That still doesn't explain why _he_ is here." Sasuke sneered and pointed towards Naruto. Iruka stared at him with a strange look that seem to be a combination of a glare and a smirk.

"Mizuki deliberately gave Naruto the wrong exam paper during the first part of the genin exam. As a result, he was found guilty of military sabotage by the hokage just a few hours ago, hence why I was late this morning."

"The first part of the exam didn't determine if we passed or not. The idiot failed because he made the wrong kind of clone during the final part of the exam." Sasuke argued. His fangirls also shouted their support of his argument. Sasuke simply smirked, thinking he had put the 'assistant' in his place. The smirk disappeared when he saw Iruka grin very darkly.

"You _do _realize that there is no such rule, _right_?" Iruka pointed out in a mocking fashion. "And how did you get ahold of information that is considered off-limits to other students?" Sasuke began to sweat a little. He knew good and well that testing information about other students was off limits.

"It doesn't matter! A headmaster's decision can't be reversed by anyone except the headmaster of the academy himself!" Sasuke half-shouted in desperation, hoping to Kami that it would be enough to keep the loser from becoming a ninja. Unfortunately for him, Kami ignored his pleads.

"You're right...which is why I reversed Mizuki's decision last night. Also, there was another...thing that he did, but will get to that in a moment." Iruka said coldly, but had a ghost of a smirk that only Naruto noticed when he mentioned the last part. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. Before he could respond, Iruka pressed on.

"Now that that's been cleared up, I will be informing you of your team placement; but first, I have an announcement to make concerning rookie of the year. For this year, and perhaps from here on out - depending on the hokage, the rookie of the year award will be split into two: Rookie Shinobi of the Year and Rookie Kunoichi of the Year. One of the reasons is that this class is 3 times larger than normal graduating classes. Another change is the placement method. Normally, we try to place the top shinobi, the top kunoichi, and the deadlast on the same team, but the hokage has decided to manually rearrange this class' placement. Now, on to this year's top shinobi and kunoichi..."

Sasuke leaned back and smirked. The 'dobe' may have been allowed to graduate, but he was still going to win ROTY. Iruka saw the smug look on his face and outwardly frowned, but on the inside he was cackling with glee. He was going to enjoy wiping the smirk off of his face, but first...

"First up, this years rookie kunoichi of the year is...Hinata Hyuga!" Iruka announced. While most of the fangirls weren't too put off since they knew how good the Hyuga heiress is, Ami was absolutely livid. Despite Hinata's vast improvement in self-confidence, a part of Ami's mind would only allow her to see Hinata as the shy girl that she used to push around during their first year in the academy. She then turned to glare at the reason for the Hyuga's transformation. _'Damn you, Uzumaki. Damn you to hell!'_

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei. I am honored that you think highly enough of me to award me such a title." Hinata said with a slight blush on her face as she walked up to the front of the class to accept a golden kunai, which is awarded to the top rookies of each class. Hinata graciously accepted it and bowed respectfully to Iruka before making her way back to her seat next to her friends.

"Congrats, Hinata-chan. You definitely earned it!" Naruto congratulated, giving her his foxy smile. He wasn't the least bit surprised that she won RKOTY. Hell, he thought that even if Iruka-sensei hadn't decided to split the award in two, she still would have won it.

"I agree with him, Hinata. In fact, not only were you the top kunoichi of this class, you even beat out nearly all of the shinobi in this class as well. Congratulations. That's two years in a row that a Hyuga has gotten top honors." Iruka praised with a smile on his face. _'She's come so far. Hiashi-sama will be proud. Maybe now those old fools on the Hyuga council will back off on trying to give her the caged bird seal.'_

"Now then, let's move on to who has earned rookie shinobi of the year." Iruka continued. The fangirls squealed, believing that their Sasuke-kun had RSOTY in the bag. The males along with Hinata, Tayuya, and Kin were inwardly aggravated. Those damn fangirls will never shut up now that Sasuke was on his way to being awarded RSOTY. Naruto sees the look on his friends' faces and decides to give them a little hint.

"Guys..." the blond whispers. His friends turned their attention to him. "I don't know who will actually take the RSOTY award, but I did manage to get wind of who _wasn't_ going to win it." Naruto had a smirk on his face that all but confirmed that a certain jerk wasn't going to get it after all. They all turned back towards Iruka when they heard him speak again.

"This year's rookie shinobi of the year is..."

Sasuke got up and began walking towards the front of the class to accept his award...or so he thought.

Iruka quickly glanced over to a certain blond before dropping the bomb, "...Naruto Uzumaki!"

The whole room went as silent as a tomb. For a moment, not a single noise was made. Then the whole class erupted into a crazy combination of confusion, outrage, and cheers. Most of the males, except Sasuke, were absolutely confused.

Naruto himself was absolutely stunned. He knew Sasuke wasn't going to get it, but in all honesty, he honestly thought that Shino was going to get it since he was the most well-rounded shinobi in the class. Naruto knew that his own IQ level was actually quite high, but he never gave anyone else the impression that he was a genius...albeit a late bloomer. In fact, the only person who knew was Shikamaru; and that's because he, predictably, figured it out on his own and confronted the blond about it. Despite that, Shikamaru understood the reason for secrecy and kept quiet about it, letting the boy reveal that information at a later date...be it as a sign of absolute trust to his friends or as a trump card against his enemies.

Sasuke Uchiha also had a shocked look on his face...before it turned into one of anger. "Excuse me?" the Uchiha hissed through his teeth. Not only did he not win RSOTY, but the person he considered a loser got the award instead.

The fangirls were outraged, the loudest being Ami. Sakura and Ino, while loud, were more confused.

"How could Sasuke-kun not be rookie of the year if he had the highest scores going in?" Sakura voiced, who failed to notice her inner self having a different reaction.

"**Alright! Way to go, Naruto-kun!"**

Ino, while louder, also wasn't angry; just highly confused. "I agree with forehead. We were told he had the highest scores overall heading into the genin exam. Was that wrong?"

Ami's reaction was much more directed towards a certain blond. "How the hell can you pick that loser over Sasuke-kun? Naruto-baka is by far the dumbest person in this class!"

"You call someone who got a near perfect score on a chunin level test, the dumbest person in this class?" Shikamaru spoke up, his eyebrow raised. Every head snapped towards the lazy Nara.

"But the test we took was a genin level test!" Sakura contested.

"OUR test was genin level. Naruto's test wasn't. That's how Mizuki tried to fail him. Even I'm not sure I could pass a chunin-level test at this time." Shikamaru replied. The shock was finally setting in. Even Naruto's friends were stunned. If this was true, then that meant that Naruto's IQ was in the neighborhood of the Naras'.

Sasuke, who was still fuming over the whole thing, couldn't take it anymore. "You better have a good explanation as to why that dumbass is a rookie of the year instead of me."

Iruka had enough. He was absolutely sick of Sasuke and his blatant disrespectful attitude. He finally decided that it was time to take him down several notches.

"Do you honestly think that I'm going to give such a prestigious award to a _**cheater**_?" Iruka spat out. Sasuke froze horror. _'...how...how did he find out?'_

Kiba, who was somewhat shocked at first, finally understood what he heard earlier. "So THAT'S what Naruto was talking about earlier."

"If he hinted at something earlier, then yes, that's what he meant, Kiba." Iruka confirmed.

The fangirls themselves were too much in shock to respond. Iruka inwardly smirked. _'If they thought that was bad, just wait until they hear what I'm going to say next...'_

"That's not all, Sasuke. The hokage is well aware of what has transgressed yesterday and he is HIGHLY displeased with you, with not only yesterday, but your entire academy career." This caused Sasuke's blood to freeze. _'No...'_

"Apparently, Mizuki has been giving you perfect scores throughout your time here. I can't bar you from becoming a genin since there seems to be no proof that the other instructors did the same. However, in the meeting I attended this morning, it was decided that not only were you to be taken out of the running for RSOTY, but as of now, your records will show that you have the worst grades in the class. In other words, you are this year's deadlast."

Nearly all of his fangirls went insane. They screamed at the scarred chunin, arguing that there must have been a mistake. Ami, on the other hand, didn't say anything; but she did have an opinion on the matter. _'...So what? At least Sasuke-kun is smart enough to take an advantage __when it is given to him. These weaklings rely too much on honesty and good faith. That's why Sasuke-kun will be a great hokage and not that stupid buffoon Uzumaki.'_

Sakura could only stare in complete shock. Her crush, someone she thought was a hard worker, took the easy way out.

_**'So you finally know what that jerk is really about. Now...what will you do?'**_ Inner Sakura mused.

Ino was shocked just like the rest of the fangirls; but unlike the others, she made the decision right then and there to become the first ever Sasuke fangirl to quite the club, although she wouldn't be the last. _'...THIS is what I was chasing all of these years? Shika was right...Sasuke-kun...no...Uchiha-TEME...is a grade A asshole! Trying to earn this bastard's love was not worth sacrificing my friendship with Sakura. I just hope she fells the same way...'_

Sasuke turned towards Naruto and gave him a hate-filled glare. _'I know you had something to do with this, dobe. You will pay for this humiliation.'_

Iruka decided that it was time to move on despite the enjoyment of taking Naruto's doubters down several pegs. "Alright, settle down everyone." The entire class began to simmer down and give the chunin instructor their undivided attention.

"You all have graduated to the rank of genin. However, from here on out, your life will not be the same as it was here in the academy. The real world is a very dangerous place and you will be in the middle of it. I won't lie to you – there is a chance that some of you will lose your lives in the next 10 years, but for a lot of you, you will achieve your dreams with enough hard work and devotion." Iruka glances at Naruto. "It takes teamwork to be successful in the ninja world, which leads me to our next topic: team placement."

"Every genin before you started their careers in team cells. Today, I will be announcing who you will be paired with. Normally, we tend to try and balance the teams by class ranking, but the hokage believes that such a thing will be difficult to do with this class so the teams were made so that there is will be a good balance of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. So, with out further delay, it is time to announce who you will be teamed up with." Iruka picked up a paper that was sitting on his desk and began to read off of it.

"Team 1 will be..."

XXXXX

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto looks up upon hearing his name, wondering who he will be paired with.

"...Sakura Haruno..." A loud bang sound throughout the classroom as Sakura slammed her head against her desk. "How did I get stuck with Naruto-baka?"

"...and Ino Yamanaka. Your jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Sakura banged her head on the desk again. "AND Ino-pig?"

Everyone looked towards Ino, expecting her to have a hissy fit, but were shocked when she said, "...Not exactly what I had in mind, but it could have been worse. At least I'm not stuck with THAT bastard." Ino pointed towards Sasuke, who was actually shocked along with the rest of the class. _'She actually hates me now?...well, she is rather weak along with that pink haired annoyance. Maybe they will slow the dobe down.'_

"Moving on, team 8 will be Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. Your jonin Sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

Kiba looked with a bit of sadness. He really wanted to be on the same team with Hinata. The Hyuga heiress saw this gave him a sad smile. She knew about the dog boy's crush and, to be totally honest, liked him as well. She was glad that two of her closest friends were her teammates.

"Team 9, with the members Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and TenTen with Maito Gai as their jonin sensei, is still in service. Team 10 will be Shino Aburame, Kin Tsuchi, and Tayuya Tsuchi. Your jonin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." Shino nodded his head, seeing nothing wrong with his new team. The two siblings high-fived each other, happy that they ended up on the same team together.

"Team 11 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Ami Ijimekko, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your jonin sensei will be Inabi Uchiha." Ami squealed upon hearing that she would be the only fangirl to be paired with Sasuke while the rest of the fangirls glared daggers at the purple-haired bully. Sasuke simply smirked. _'Inabi is one of the strongest in the Uchiha clan. He will most certainly help me become strong enough to become clan head.'_

"Damnit!" Kiba shouted. Most of the class assumed he was upset about not being with Hinata. They were only half right. Kiba hated the fact that he was going to be stuck on a team that would more than likely single him out just for being friends with Naruto. His friends gave him a look of sympathy; Hinata gave him a sad look.

"_Oh Kiba-kun..."_

"Your jonin senseis will be here to pick you up shortly. Good luck...to all of you." Iruka finished before leaving the classroom. About 10 minutes later, Kurenai Yuhi, Konoha's genjutsu mistress came in and asked her new students to follow her to one of Konoha's training grounds. Another 10 minutes later, Asuma walked in and collected his genin. About every 7-10 minutes, other jonin came to get their new genin until only team 7 and team 10 were left.

After 15 minutes of uncomfortable silence, a man with brown hair that went down to his shoulders dressed in a standard jonin uniform with a jonin vest walked in. Sasuke immediately recognized the man.

"Team 11, I am your jonin sensei, Inabi Uchiha. Come with me." Inabi commanded. Sasuke and Ami got up and walked towards him. Sasuke noticed that Kiba was slightly hesitant to get up and decided to humiliate him a little.

"What are you waiting for mutt, a doggie treat? Get down here." Sasuke said. Kiba let out a low growl at Sasuke's taunt, but was cut short by Inabi.

"You heard him, Inuzuka; Get down here, NOW. I won't say it again." Inabi said harshly. Kiba clinched his fists so hard that his nails broke his skin, causing them to bleed a little, but did as he was told.

Naruto glared at Sasuke for humiliating his friend. Inabi saw the blond and frowned. "You have a problem with my cousin, _Uzumaki brat_?" He spat.

Surprisingly, it was Ino that spoke up. "With all due respect to your ranking, Inabi-san, I think he has a problem with Sasuke because he's a cheater."

"Watch your mouth, you little bitch, before I permanently shut it for you." Inabi threatened and turned his sharingan on, causing Ino to slightly shake in fear at the sight of the sharingan, but also shake in anger at being called a bitch. Inabi then felt something electric in the air. He turned towards the source of the electricity, which cause his eyes to widen. Glaring at him was a VERY angry Naruto with his hair slightly sticking out and his eyes glowing.

"I don't care if you insult me, but if you ever call Ino-chan a bitch or threaten her life again, I will turn you into a christmas tree. Deactivate your sharingan." Naruto said in a low dark voice, sending shivers down everyone's spine. No one other than his friends had ever seen this side of Naruto before.

"I am a jonin, you demon brat. You will show me respect or I wil-" Inabi stopped when he felt the hairs on his body stand up.

"What you're feeling now is a prelude to a lightning strike. Activating your sharingan in a threatening manner towards a fellow Konoha ninja is against the law and you know it. Should you refuse to turn it off, I am well within my rights to call down the thunder and kill your ass. I'll say it again; deactivate your sharingan, NOW." Naruto warned.

Inabi's eyes widened is surprise with a hint of fear. He only felt something like this one other time: when he got on the bad side of one Cole McGrath. He wanted so badly to kill the boy, but unfortunately for him, he was correct; activating his sharingan against the Yamanaka girl could get him in hot water with not only the whole Yamanaka clan and their allies, but the hokage as well.

_'Just you wait, demon brat. Once the Uchiha clan takes over this village, you will be the first person we execute.'_ Inabi inwardly growled as he deactivated his sharingan and left the room without saying a word with Sasuke and Ami close behind him. Kiba gave Naruto a nod and smirk that said 'Good one, man' and left as well. Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He was fortunate that Inabi ignored him just long enough for him to lock-on to him with a possible lightning strike. The attack is indeed powerful, but since Naruto hasn't mastered it yet, he needed 2 things for it to work: time (in his case, several seconds) and for the target to either be standing still or slowly moving around for a lock. Cole, on the other hand, had mastered it. It only took him one and a half seconds to lock on to his target.

Ino and Sakura simply gaped at the blond with looks of shock at what he just did.

_'Naruto...defended me...but why? I've been nothing but mean to him.'_ Ino stared in confusion. Sakura was about to berate Naruto for bad-mouthing Sasuke again, when her inner self sensed this and cut her off.

"_**You and I are going to have a SERIOUS talk later on about him. You are now a genin, which means there are some things that you need to be shown, including some clan **__**jutsus and your gekkei genkai."**_

_'I have a gekkei genkai?'_

"_**Yes, but I will explain later. For now, go with your new teammates and meet up with your sensei. Be warned: While he is highly renowned in the ninja world, he also has a dubious reputation for being late among other things..."**_ Inner Sakura warned.

Sakura inwardly nodded in understanding and brought her attention back to the real world. She looked at the clock and realized that they had been here for more than an hour. She was about to say something to her teammates when Naruto snapped his head towards the door.

"...About time..." she heard him mumble. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a silver haired jonin with his headband covering his left eye and a mask over the bottom half of his face. He was reading an orange book.

"Team 7?" the jonin inquired.

"So you're Kakashi Hatake." Naruto stated calmly. _'...and you're late; no surprise there.'_

_'So this guy's the famous copy ninja; and what is he reading?' _Sakura inwardly mused to herself.

_'...He looks like a lazy ass to me.'_ Ino mentally deadpanned.

"My first impression of you is..." the genin leaned forward. "...I don't have one yet." All three face-faulted.

"Meet me up on the roof and hopefully that will change." Kakashi eye-smiled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, you heard the man. Let's get up there and see what's in store for us." Naruto grinned and made his way to the door.

"Naruto...?" came Ino's voice as she looked at him questioningly. Naruto turned back towards her.

"...I know you girls have questions. To be honest, I honestly don't know if I am ready to reveal some of those answers at this time, but I promise that you will know everything in due time. For now, let's go up to the roof and meet our new sensei." Naruto replied.


	4. Chapter 4 Enter Team 7

_Hey, guys! I know I took a while to update and I won't make excuses. I messed up and as a result, I had to go back and start re-writing quite a few chapters and will be doing so for a while. Don't worry, chapters 1-3 don't have any problems and are just fine. However, because of this and some other personal things (which I won't get into), I will be going at a slower pace than when I started. I won't make any promises, but going this long without an update shouldn't happen very often if at all._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or InFamous_

_**Lawyers start complaining** _

_SHUT THE HELL UP WILL YA!_

_**Crickets start chirping**_

_...Thank you. Now then, here is the next chapter of Konoha's Red Thunder..._

**Chapter 4: Enter Team 7**

"Alright then, now that you are all here, why don't you tell me all about yourselves?" Kakashi suggested. The three genin looked at him, not quite getting what he wants them to say.

Sakura spoke up, "What do you mean, sensei?"

"I mean what are your likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, dreams, and so on." Kakashi answered while still reading his orange book.

"Why don't you go first and show us how it's done?"

Kakashi closed his book and put it away. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like some things and I dislike other things. My dream...don't really feel like telling you that. As for hobbies...I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura sweat-dropped at the jonin's "example". _'All we learned was his name...which we already knew.'_

Naruto had his eyes closed, but a noticeable twitch in his right eye could be seen. _'Hebi-sensei was right...he's even too lazy to tell us about himself.'_

Ino, who also looked slightly annoyed, simply voiced what was on her mind, "Wow...what a resume." she deadpanned.

Kakashi eye-smirked. _'At least one of them speaks their mind...although I have to admit that I thought it would be Naruto. Oh well...'_

"Just for that little crack, you get to go first, blondie."

Ino sighed, but did what the jonin said. Better not to give a bad impression to the person that will be teaching you for years.

"My name is Ino Yamanaka. I like flowers, my family and friends, shopping, sports, chocolate and..." she paused for a moment before quickly glancing towards Naruto. Kakashi picks up on the gesture, but decides not to comment on it for now. "I dislike sashimi, cruel people, and most recently..." Her face went dark for a moment before looking up with a cold look on her face. "...Sasuke Uchiha." She said, causing Sakura to look at her in shock. She was about to ask her childhood friend why, but Kakashi beat her to it.

"From what I gather, you're one of his biggest supporters. Did he turn you down or something?"

"Was one of his biggest supporters, sensei. No...that wasn't it at all. That bastard is nothing more than a shit stain who prefers to take the easy why out."

"That's understandable. I admit that I'm not very high on him after taking part in that incident. Anyway, what about the rest of yourself, like your dreams or goals in life?" Kakashi urged.

"My dream...is to surpass Tsunade of the sannin and become one of the strongest kunoichi in the world." Ino finished.

_'Hmm...I honestly didn't expect much out of this one, but it looks like she has moved pass her fangirl stage and decided to focus on becoming a real ninja. She needs some physical training and she needs to quit the dieting, but she has potential.'_ Kakashi mused, giving Ino a nod. Ino wasn't rail-thin by any means, but the rigorous training done by ninjas won't allow her to be on a diet that focuses on less eating. In fact, even eating as much as the average civilian wouldn't be enough.

"Ok pinky, you're next." Kakashi pointed to Sakura.

Sakura lightly glared at the cyclops, but decided to let it go. It wasn't that bad of a nickname. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I also like flowers, studying, and my mom."

"Hmm...aren't you leaving out a certain person?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura was silent for a moment before finally answering the copy ninja's question, "I'm...not sure. I've always thought that Sasuke was a strong and honorable person. However, after today, I can't look at him the same way again. I don't know if I hate him per-say...but I'm certain that I don't like him anymore, either."

Kakashi nodded. It wasn't a pleasant experience to find out that the person you like the most turns out to be a fraud in some respects. "What about your dreams?"

"My dream is to become a good medical ninja and have a family...although I honestly don't know with whom anymore."

"And your dislikes?"

"Naruto. He's so annoying, loud, and stupid. He keeps bugging me for a date even though I keep saying 'no'. For once, I wish he would just leave me alone!" Sakura said in an aggravated tone.

Naruto couldn't keep the look of hurt off of his face. Ino saw the look and couldn't help but feel bad for him. _'Did he always look like this when we scolded him for talking to us?'_

Inner Sakura was highly aggravated, but with her outer self – not Naruto. _**'That's IT! It's time that she learned the whole truth, possible insanity be damned...and who REALLY saved her from those damn bullies!'**_

Kakashi shook his head in disappointment. _'If she only knew that most of the things she said weren't true.' _

Kakashi then notices that Ino looked tempted to reach out and give the boy a hug, which surprised him. _'Wait...she actually feels sorry for him. At least he's got one ally for now. If Sakura __doesn't wake up soon, she could end up being alienated by not just her teammates, but most of the rookies as well since, from what Hokage-sama told me earlier, he seems to have a great relationship with them.'_

Not wanting the uncomfortable silence to continue, Kakashi decided to move on. He would have a talk with the pinkette later. "Alright then whiskers, you're up – and please...tell us about the _real_ you."

_'Huh? What did he mean by that?' _Ino and Sakura thought in confusion. They looked over and saw that Naruto had his eyes closed as if he was thinking it over.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Naruto-kun," Tsunade began. "Up until now, I, along with Jiraiya, have told you that it was imperative you keep your real name and personality a secret."_

"_Yes Baa-chan, you did. Why bring this up now?" Naruto asked._

"_Because, despite the advantage that this grants you, it won't last forever."_

"_But I thought that you said that I shouldn't reveil my secrets or the council will try and remove me from the clan."_

"_Yes, that's true. However, the only reason they can do something is because you are currently a civilian." Tsunade stated. "Remember, only the civilian council despises you. The shinobi council already knows of your secret and have no intentions of telling those empty-headed fools that you have a family...at least not yet, anyway."_

_Tsunade then gave the whiskered boy a knowing smirk. "And with you genin exam coming up in a week..."_

_Naruto eyes widened at what his surrogate mother was implying. "You mean..."_

"_Yes, Naruto-kun..."_

_END FLASHBACK_

Naruto stood up and opened his eyes. "Kakashi-sensei...you're right. I think that it's time that I began telling everyone who I really am."

Kakashi smiled at the boy. 'Here we go. I just hope it goes over well enough. It's bad enough that he has to put up with so much from the civilians. He doesn't need people other than Sasuke Uchiha despising him.'

"Everyone knows me as Naruto Uzumaki. However...that's not my entire name." Naruto began. He saw that both girls were looking at him with confused expressions. Naruto sighed. This was going to be a system shocker. "My full name is Naruto Uzumaki...Shinsei."

Both Ino and Sakura's eyes widened in complete shock. For several minutes, nobody said anything. Ino and Sakura expected something fairly big...but not THIS big. The boy that they had considered to be an annoying, stupid, average-talent, no-clan loser, turned out to be a member of one of the village's youngest, but powerful and wealthiest clans. Granted, Ino had already realized that Naruto wasn't stupid nor was he just average; but him belonging to a clan, period, was a major surprise – let alone a super power clan. Sakura, on the other hand, was ill-prepared for such news and nearly passed out. Inner Sakura sweat-dropped at her outer self. _**'I wonder how she's going to react when I teach her THAT jutsu and finds out **__**everything**__** about him on her own...'**_

"Look, I know that it doesn't make sense-" Naruto began, but was cut off.

"Actually, it makes plenty of sense. I've long figured out that you weren't some kind of moron and that you have far more than average talent, but why didn't you ever use your clan name while in the academy?" Ino inquired.

"...because...the civilian council would either try to disband the clan or forcefully remove me from it." Naruto answered, his voice obviously giving off a sad tone.

"**Kit, you may have said too much. You know she's going to look into that..."** Kyubi gently warned.

_'She's going to find out anyway since she is a Yamanaka and the heiress to said clan. Remember, she is a natural mind walker and will eventually come across that information...one way or another. '_ Naruto responded.

"**...Point taken. Still, be careful how you word things from here on out. The Yamanaka girl and MAYBE the Haruno girl may be able to understand the circumstances behind my attack of your village, but some people are so blinded by hate that they don't care who's really behind it. Then there are some who hold the Uchiha clan in such high regard, that they will refuse to believe that those jutsu thieves willed the partial destruction of the village."**

_'Agreed.'_

Ino was confused by the boy's answer. To her, it seemed like someone on the civilian council was out to get him for some unknown reason.

"_**You're getting warm."**_ came a voice inside her head. Ino was about to shout 'what the hell', but was cut off by the same voice.

"_**I wouldn't do that if I were you. You don't want your teammates to think that you are some kind of nut, now do you?"**_ the voice responded. Ino thought for a second before remembering something and decided to test it.

_'...who are you...and why do you sound like me?' _Ino sent a mental reply.

"_**My, my, you are a smart one if you figured out how to communicate with me that quickly. As for your questions, let's wait until you are away from your teammates. We have much to discuss."**_ the voice explained. Ino silently agreed with the voice and made a note to find an "out-of-the-way" spot to mentally talk with the voice without interruption.

Kakashi decided once more to keep things on track to help Naruto avoid answering questions he wasn't ready to give the answers to. "What are your likes, dislikes, dreams and so on, Naruto?"

Naruto seemed to snap out of his sad state and put on a somewhat genuine smile. "I like my family and friends – just like Ino-chan, ramen, football [AN: In this fic, the term 'football' will refer to the american style game], finding and creating new jutsus and seals, and reading."

_'Naruto...likes to read?' _Kakashi mentally gapped. He knew the boy COULD read, but he never thought that the blond LIKED to read as a hobby.

_'He's...been creating his own jutsus AND seals?'_ thought a surprised Ino. _'That sort of thing requires some serious creativity and brain power, especially seals.' _It was then that she finally understood: Naruto had been hiding nearly every true thing about himself; the only things that seemed to connect the mask and the real mccoy was his friendly attitude, his appetite for ramen, and his pranking nature. He was never truly the dead-last at any point. It did, however, beg the question, _'Then why were his grades so horrible during the first half of his academy career?'_

Sakura looked down. _'He added a 'chan' at the end of Ino-pig's name...but he didn't even mention me.'_ For some reason, that last part hurt.

The two genin and one-eyed jonin were brought out of their thoughts when they heard Naruto continue, "My dislikes are selfish people, most of the Uchiha clan..." his facial expression then turned cold and said the last part in a low, but icy voice, "...and traitors."

That sent shivers down everyone's back. They had never seen the boy like this before. While the two kunoichi were wondering why he said the last part with such disdain, Kakashi knew exactly why his view was so hateful towards traitors._ 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Naruto does see the hokage as a grandfather figure. The fact that Mizuki willfully took advantage of the hokage's magnanimous attitude towards ninja under his command must have caused him to have zero tolerance for traitors. Somehow...I get the feeling that Mizuki may end up being the only traitor to survive Naruto's wrath from here on out.'_

"My dream is to become strong and become hokage...and maybe find someone who will see me for who I am as a person." Naruto nearly whispered the last part, but everyone heard it nevertheless.

Kakashi smiled at Naruto, indicating that he and the boy were going to get along just fine. "Now that the introductions are over, let's discuss what you three will be doing, provided that you pass the genin examination two days from now." That got the three genin's attention.

"Sensei, we already took the genin exam yesterday." Sakura spoke up. She immediately got an uneasy feeling when the lazy jonin eye-smiled mischievously.

"What you passed yesterday was a genin preliminary qualification exam. In other words, that exam is designed to determine who is eligible to possibly become genin. The test you will be taking in two days will decide if you are ready for life as a ninja...or if you need more seasoning."

"Umm, sensei?" Ino spoke up. Kakashi turned his attention to the blond mindwalker and nodded his head, motioning for her to continue. "Why are you holding the test in two days instead of tomorrow? Does the test take that much time to set up?"

_'Well now, she's a smart one, too. In fact, my whole team is smart now that I think about it. Still, I won't be able to tell her everything...' _- "That's very perceptive of you, Ino. The hokage has ordered a meeting and the ninja council members and some ninja, myself included, are required to attend. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it's about it since what will more than likely be discussed will be S-ranked." Kakashi answered.

"Please don't tell me, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto groaned.

"I'm afraid so, Naruto. You will be required to attend since you are the only candidate to succeed Tsunade as clan head of the Shinsei clan."

"Sensei, I thought that the clan head had to be at least a chunin to become clan head." Ino pointed out.

"In most cases, yes. However, there are a few exceptions to that rule. However, we are getting off topic here. In two days, I will be giving you three your genin test. The only thing that I will tell you about this test is that should you fail it, you will be sent back to the academy for one semester before you can try again with the same team or another of the hokage's choosing. I will see you three at 8 AM sharp. Oh, and I would suggest not eating anything the mourning of your exam – you just might throw it right back up." Kakashi eye-smile before 'poofing' away.

While Sakura and Ino stared in comical horror at the last part of Kakashi's speech, Naruto was instantly suspicious. _'Why the hell would he say that? Kaa-chan told me once that not eating before doing any kind of strenuous activity could have unwanted consequences...' _Deciding that to file the thought away for later, he walked over to his new teammates.

"Hey Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, you want to go get something to eat?" He offered.

"I can't. I've got some things to do." Sakura said, a little too fast and took off towards her home. Naruto felt a little hurt that his pink crush turned down a chance to for some team bonding. He turned to Ino and was about to ask the same thing, but stopped when Ino shook her head.

"Sorry Naruto...but I need to go and think some things over." Ino said. She immediately regretted saying so when she saw the look of heartbreak on his face. She actually did want to go and have lunch with him, even if half the reason was to try and figure him out, but she also needed to find out what that voice in her head was and what it wanted to talk to her about.

_**'It's ok - go ahead and tell him. He revealed things about himself. The best way to establish trust is to reveal things about you in return.'**_ the voice encouraged. Ino felt somewhat nervous about telling the boy about a voice in his head, but something inside her, besides the voice, was telling her that Naruto can be trusted.

"Naruto...please don't think that I don't want to get to know you. In fact, I really did want to go to lunch with you...but something came up while we were introducing ourselves..." Ino began. Seeing that the boy's facial expression changed to one of confusion, she continued, "...I know this is going to sound...strange, but I literally had a voice telling me that it had things to discuss. I have to find out what this is about, because quite frankly, I'm scared of the possibility of 'losing it'. I promise you that once I figure out what's going on, I'll tell you. I don't want to head into this test with both you and Sakura thinking that I'm going insane." Ino said, fidgeting the whole time.

Naruto's eyes slightly widened, but not for the reasons most would think. _'...Is it possible? Does she have...?'_

"**She just might, kit. The Yamanaka clan isn't known to have THAT ability, but the possibility was always there. I have a few theories on the matter kit, but for now, let her sort it out on her own. If my theory is correct, then we need to have a talk...ALL of us."** Kyubi informed him.

_'What do you mean by 'ALL of us'?' _Naruto responded.

"**I'm sorry kit, but that will have to wait. I want to be sure about this before I tell you more."**

Deciding to let the matter drop for the time being, Naruto turned his attention back to Ino, who had a concerned look on her face. _'At least Ino-chan actually wants to get to know me.'_

"**Don't be so quick to give up on the pinky yet, kit. Somehow, I get the feeling that she is going to come around soon enough."**

"Naruto?" came Ino's concerned voice. Naruto gave her a small smile.

"I understand, Ino-chan. I think I may have an idea of what that is about, but if I'm correct, then it's not my place to tell you. The only thing that I can say is don't let anyone else other than me, Kakashi-sensei, or even Sakura-chan know about this. A good ninja doesn't reveal their secrets when they don't have to."

"Naruto, one more thing...why did Inabi call you a 'demon brat'?"

Naruto mentally cursed. He had completely forgotten about his little showdown with the jonin Uchiha. "...I can't really tell you...yet. But I promise to tell you when I feel the time is right. When I do tell you, please...keep an open mind." Naruto gave her a sad smile and took off towards his favorite place to eat, Ichiraku ramen.

As she watched him leave, Ino couldn't help but mentally ask herself, _'What did he mean by that?'_ The voice decided to answer that question.

_**'I have an idea of what he's talking about, but that isn't something that I will directly talk about. That said, I have a feeling that you will find out very soon. Now, go find a place where we won't be disturbed. This is going to take a while.'**_

XXXXX

**30 minutes later – Haruno main household**

As Sakura arrived home after her team's first meeting, she noticed that her mother, Somei Haruno, seemed a bit aggravated. This caused the pink-haired teen to frown a bit, having an idea of why her mother was in such a mood.

"It's _him_, isn't it?" Sakura asked in a disgusted tone. Somei turned to see her daughter standing in the doorway of the family room.

The jonin mother simply sighed, "Yes, honey, it's about your stepfather." Akogi Haruno, Sakura's stepfather, was a civilian – but he wasn't just any civilian. He was a civilian council member. It was no secret among the ninja population that Somei did not marry Akogi by choice. Her parents, despite being Harunos, weren't ninjas and didn't approve Somei becoming one. In the Haruno family, most of the ninjas and the civilians didn't get along with each other. When she was younger, Somei managed to convince her parents to let her become a kunoichi.

Although her parents eventually relented, they told her that they reserved the right to marry her off to anyone of their choosing. Believing that the trade-off would be fair, she accepted. Unfortunately, her parents had a lapse in judgement and married her off to one of the village's sexists men, Akogi. The only reason he had changed his name was because Somei belonged to a clan. He used his status as a council member to get what he wanted when he could. Granted, he couldn't do very much to her since she was a kunoichi, but since Sakura was technically a civilian for most of her life up until now, he made her do all of the chores and treated her like a 2nd class citizen. Whenever Somei tried to intervene, he would threaten to sell her into slavery. Unfortunately, money allowed him to do a lot of things.

One day after another incident involving a group of kids teasing the pinkette about her forehead, Sakura had told her mother that she wanted to become a ninja. At first, Somei was happy that Sakura wanted to follow in her foot steps, but realized that Akogi would never allow such a thing, seeing as he would lose a lot of control over her. Thankfully, the Sandaime knew of the situation and when the sexist council member forbad her from entering the academy, Sarutobi immediately told him that since at least one of her parents was a ninja of Konoha; by law, Sakura was allowed the opportunity to enter the academy.

Akogi had no choice but to obey, but it didn't end there. On Sakura's first day at the academy, she immediately became the target of Ami and her two friends. Somei decided to follow her daughter to school for that first day without anyone else knowing, including Sakura. She discovered that Ami's father was Ijimekko, another civilian council member who just happen to be good friends with her husband. She wondered why Ami would choose her daughter as a target, but got her answer when Sakura came home that night with Akogi waiting for her with a fake smile on his face while asking her how her first day at the academy was. From that point on, she knew that Akogi was indirectly responsible Sakura's low self-esteem. Because of this, most of the boys weren't interested in her since she was viewed as a weakling.

Despite all that, Sakura managed to bring home good grades, much to the dismay of Akogi. To add insult to injury, there was one boy who was attracted to her: Naruto Uzumaki. While Somei knew better and didn't see the boy as the Kyubi, Akogi, like every member of the civilian council, hated the boy, but not for the same reasons. No, he hated the boy simply because as long as there was someone his age trying to give Sakura confidence in herself, she wouldn't break like he wanted. However, Somei's heart sank as Sasuke Uchiha arrived on the scene, leaving nearly all of the girls in the class star-struck, including Sakura. Akogi seemed quite happy since it distracted Sakura from becoming a good kunoichi and was even better since the girl was unknowingly treating her only other savior like dirt.

That is, until yesterday. When Sakura graduated, Akogi was furious. Because Sakura graduated and became a genin, she was no longer under the civilian council's control. Coming back to the present, it was obvious that Akogi found out who was on Sakura's team. It was obvious to Somei that Ami was the one to let loose that information to her father, who in turn, informed Akogi. The bastard had demanded that Somei go to the hokage and force him to change the teams. When Somei refused, he threatened to kick her and Sakura out onto the street, but Somei didn't by it at all. She was still angry with her parents, but she at least knew that if Akogi tried such a thing without a valid reason, they would banish him from the Haruno clan. Granted, the Haruno clan in general didn't particularly like Naruto, they also didn't hate him either.

"Why do we have to put up with him, mom? He's done nothing but make our life miserable...and since last year, he makes me...uncomfortable whenever he looks at me." Sakura said with a bit of fear. Somei's facial expression darkened. Around the beginning of her 3rd year, she, at times, had caught Akogi eye's...'wondering' whenever Sakura walked passed him. In other words, he was staring at her ass, one of the pinkette's features that even Ino was jealous of, which was saying something since one boy had describe the blond's ass as a 'ripe piece of fruit'. Said boy ended up in the hospital for a week.

"I know, sweetheart, I know." Somei softly said. "It's difficult, but now that you are a ninja, at least you don't have to worry about most of his threats. Still, be on your guard and be wary of him and anyone on the civilian council. Jiraiya-sama told me that he found something ...disturbing involving at least some of them, if not all."

"Don't worry mom, I will." Sakura assured her. Then she remembered what she needed to do from earlier today during her team's first meeting. "Mom, I need to go to the..." Sakura stopped short of saying. She didn't know if her mom would let her, even if she just became a ninja.

"...I see. Did..._she..._tell you that it's time?" Somei asked. Sakura slowly nodded, not knowing how else to respond. Somei stayed silent for a moment before opening her eyes to give her daughter a serious look. At first Sakura thought that her mother was going to tell her that she wasn't ready to visit _that _place. She was wrong.

"Then it is time, Sakura-chan, my daughter. It is time for you to fully learn our clan's kekkei genkai. It is time...for you to learn about the Mind Pool."

XXXXX

**2 hours after team 7's first meeting – Yamanaka Clan Library**

"This place should do." Ino said, mostly to herself. At first, she thought about going back home to the flowershop, but with her parents there, she might not get the time needed to try and understand what was going on in her head. Besides, she had heard stories about a few people in her clan's history that had gone insane. She shivered at that. If her cousin, Newazashi[1], found out that about this, he would use it to his advantage to win himself the title of Yamanaka clan head, even if she was considered by most to be the favorite to become clan leader when her father stepped down.

Newazashi maybe her cousin, but she despised him. Many people, inside and outside of the Yamanaka clan, knew about his Machiavellian-like nature. He liked to bully people into getting what he wanted. Nearly all the people in her age group were at best hesitant to deal with him or at worst, were downright afraid of him. The only ones in his group not afraid of him were team 9 which consisted of Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji Hyuga. Her age group was only slightly better, but she now suspected that had something to do with a certain whiskered blond. She remembered seeing him bully the others while she was in her 2nd year at the academy. Then one day, he stopped messing with most of his class. While she never found out exactly what had happened, she did noticed that he would go out of his way to avoid Naruto like the plague.

Ino's thoughts were broken up when everything went black. When Ino came to, she noticed that she was in a field filled with beautiful flowers of every color that seemed to stretch for miles. The sky was a strange, but beautiful mix of light blue and light purple. _**"Ah, there you are." **_came a voice from behind. Ino spun around to see...a version of herself, who looked exactly like her except that she wore black instead of purple.

"_Ok, who are you and what is this place?" _Ino asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"_**This place is your mind. What you see is a representation of your mental status. As you can see, the flowers everywhere mean that your mind is at peace. The light purple sky means "The sky's the limit" for you. In other words, you believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. As for who I am...I'm your inner self."**_

"_...I knew it. I'm going insane." _Ino said in a gloomily comical way.

"_**(sighs) No, you're not you, girl. Your friend Sakura already told you about her clan's kekkei genkei."**_ That caused Ino to freeze. How could she have the pinkette's family bloodline? She wasn't related to her...was she?

"_**Although scholars from both clans have been studying things like this, nobody ever found any evidence of the two of you be related by blood and I doubt they ever will. As to how you could have your best friend's bloodline, that too, is a mystery although there seems to be more evidence to support a few theories that are floating around out there, but that is a discussion for much later. For now, there are some things that you need to know about your teammates."**_

"_If you're talking about that disgusting pervert of a stepfather, than yeah I know about that. Me and Sakura aren't on great terms right now, but I still see her as a friend even is she doesn't. I swear if that bastard touches her, I WILL rip his throat out...if Naruto doesn't do it first."_ Ino said coldly.

"_**Well, at least you know that much. It saves time and allows us to talk about your other teammate."**_ Inner Ino continued.

"_Naruto..." _Ino whispered.

"_**Yes, Naruto-kun."**_ Inner Ino confirmed.

"_Naruto-kun?"_

"_**Oh come off it girl, you know you're starting to like him."**_

"_Wh-what are t-talking about?" _Inner stuttered. In the real world, she was blushing like crazy.

"_**Please. It started the instant he was prepared to kill a full-fledged jonin for you. You know damn well that selfish prick Sasuke won't ever do that for anyone."**_

"_Alright all ready! Okay, I admit that he's interesting, but I'm not ready to admit that a thing for him." '...yet.' _Ino thought the last part. Inner Ino heard it, but decided to drop it...for now. There were more important things to talk about.

"_**Fine. I'll let it slid...for now."**_

"_Thank you. You said that there was something that I needed to know about Naruto..."_

"**_Yes..."_ **Inner Ino responded, becoming serious. **_"Before I say anything else, I need you to answer something for me."_ **Ino nodded, silently urging her inner self to continue. Inner Ino produced two items that Ino easily recognized out of thin air. **_"Now then, what are these?"_**

It seemed strange to answer such an easy question, but the blonde figured that there was a purpose behind her inner self asking, so she decide to go ahead and humor her. _"That's a scroll..."_ Ino said, pointing to the cylinder object. _"...and that's a kunai."_ she finished after pointing to the weapon that ninjas see and use in their everyday lives. Inner Ino nods and begins to open the scroll. She then places the kunai on top of the scroll before pumping a small amount of chakra into the scroll. The kunai disappears, but Ino notices that the kanji "Kunai" now shows up the scroll.

"_**What is it now?"**_

"_Uh, still a scroll..." _Ino deadpanned as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"_**Very good. You pass my test."**_ Inner Ino grinned.

"_Test?"_ Inquired a confused Ino.

"_**You'll understand in time. Now then, let's talk..."**_ Inner Ino said seriously.

Ino saw this and wondered just what this was about exactly. She would find out soon...and it would change her life in more ways than one.


	5. Chapter 5 The Mind Pool Realm Edited

**Note:**** For those of you who have already read this chapter before August 31****st, you may have noticed a glaring error: Inner Sakura's name seems to be missing in certain sentences. This error only seemed to show up when I posted this chapter the first time around. In order to correct this, I had to type her name another way for it to show up. I apologize to those who have read the chapter and have been put off by this.**

**Jrvegeeta**

Dbtiger63: That's one of the reason I made the decision to make my first fic different. The skeletal structure will be the same (the characters and the arcs), but they won't go the same way that they do in canon. Hell, as you've seen, the Uchiha massacre didn't happen at all, they simply split and fell into a cold war with each other – that in and of itself changes a lot of things. I do understand your concern involving the sannin. That was one of the things I'm taking a chance with, but so far, it hasn't caused any major conflicts (to the outline of the story I have so far).

Fox-sama: I do agree that there are a lot of stories about Sakura being too infatuated with Sasuke, but what most of those stories don't say is why and believe me, I can somewhat understand why it has happened. In canon, it's because she had even less confidence in herself than even Hinata (and that's really saying something). Ino came by and helped her with that. The problem was Ino helped a little too much by encouraging her to go after Sasuke, mainly because of his looks (keep in mind that Ino was a bit shallow went it came to dating in the first part). Sakura followed her advice too well and did just that and it cost them their friendship. In Shippuden, Sakura may still like Sasuke to a degree, but her feelings for Naruto have developed to the point where she now gets jealous if another girl touches him (See the 2nd Shippuden movie to see what I mean). I'm certain that if a situation came up with both Sasuke and Naruto being mortally wounded and she could only save one, she would pick Naruto. She may like Sasuke, but not enough to sacrifice Naruto and Konoha. That's why Naruto took the decision out of her hands and into his own in the lastest chapters, so she wouldn't have to make such a horrible choice.

McGeezel: Don't get me wrong – both outer Sakura and Ino are very intelligent. However, even intelligent people have major faults. Their's just happened to be Sasuke, but as you've seen already, they don't see him in a good light anymore. Naruto's powers have a lot of potential because lightning is(I believe) potentially the most useful to a ninja than any other element...and you will see why as the story progresses.

Morlandros: If I were to reveil the answers this early in the fic, it won't be very interesting. A good story always has a few questions hanging in the air for some part of the story. That said, don't expect the major stuff to go unanswered when the story ends.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or InFamous.**

**Lawyer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! HE REMEMBEREEEEEEEEEED! DAMNIT ALLLLLLLLL!**

Jrvegeeta: (Sweat-drops) _'__Somebody's__ low on cash...'_

Naruto: Yeah...and I thought the Getbackers Recovery service had bad luck with money...

Ban Mido: WHAT WAS THAT, YOU LITTLE PUNK?

Naruto: Gah! (takes off with Ban running after him, trying to give him the 'Snake bite')

Genji Amano: Hey come on, Ban! He was just kidding! Baaan! (runs after them)

Jrvegeeta: (Sighs and shakes head) Read and review please.

**Chapter 5: The Mind Pool Realm**

**Haruno Central Mind Pool Chamber**

Sakura could only stare in complete awe at the site before her eyes. Before her was the Haruno's pride of their clan: The Mind Pool Chamber.

Thousands of crystal pillars that ranged from 4 to 7 feet in height, stretched on for what seemed like miles. The Chamber itself was underground and was as big as the entire Haruno clan compound, which was at least a mile in every direction. The ceiling had several glowing seals which seem to slowly pulse. There were already some people sitting next to the crystals with their eyes closed. The ground, strangely enough, was real grass. How it grew without natural sunlight, Sakura didn't know and was a question she would have to ask later.

"Sakura..." Somei spoke up, getting her daughters's attention. "What you see before you is our clan's greatest power, the Mind Pool. The Mind Pool allows us Harunos to store and use information accessible only to us or those with a kekkei genkai similar to ours."

Sakura gave her mother a slightly confused look when she mentioned others with similar bloodlines. Somei nodded, understanding what her daughter wanted her to elaborate on.

"While our type of bloodline is extremely rare, there are a few bloodlines that are similar enough to potentially access our archives."

"Potentially? You mean someone could get in without us knowing?" Sakura asked, slightly worried. Her concern, however, would be put to rest as her mother gave her a reassuring smile.

"No, Sakura-chan. That action is quite impossible. For one, you must be a Haruno to gain access from anywhere outside of this chamber. Any exceptions must be known to the Haruno clan beforehand. Two, even Harunos are monitored at all times by the Cerebral Security Squad, or CSS. Should anyone be caught doing something illegal, the CSS reserve the right to do whatever they deem necessary to protect the Mind Pool, which includes destroying the person's mind."

Sakura slightly shivered at that. The thought of becoming a vegetable was simply horrifying. Putting the morbid thought out of her mind, Sakura decided to ask a few questions that she had on her mind.

"Mom, how much chakra does the Mind Pool Jutsu require?"

"None." Somei grinned. Sakura stared at her mother as if she grew a second head. As far as she knew, EVERY jutsu required chakra. Seeing that her daughter wanted an explanation, she continued, "Perhaps I should re-word that. The Mind Pool Jutsu doesn't require OUR chakra to use. It requires the use of a type of chakra called nature chakra. Are you familiar with it?"

"A little, but only that our resident Sannin each have summons, who do use that kind of chakra." Sakura answered.

"That is correct, dear. Jiraiya-sama uses toads, Tsunade-sama uses slugs, and Orochimaru-sama uses snakes. Each race can teach their summoners how to use nature chakra in order to obtain what is called "Sage mode". However, that's "Senjutsu", or Sage Techniques. While it uses natural chakra, the way it is used is completely different to the way we use it. Our way is called "Shinjutsu" or Mind Techniques.

Instead of bringing the chakra completely into our bodies, we use it as a gateway. The chakra touches our minds, but that's it. Once the natural chakra is connected to our minds, our inner selves then guide us to and into the Mind Pool realm. Once there, it is possible to do research on nearly anything that we Harunos have come across. We can even learn new jutsus and how to use them inside the realm itself."

Sakura was in awe at what her mother was telling her, but like any good Haruno ninja, she took note of everything that Somei explained to her. Still, there were a few things that she wanted to ask.

"Mom, I understand almost everything that you told me, but there are some things that I wanted to ask." Sakura said. Somei nodded, encouraging her to ask her questions.

"What happens if we were to try and bring the natural chakra into the body?"

"Without meeting specific requirements, that...would be very bad." Somei answered. "If you wish to know more about that, I suggest you ask one of the 3 sannin. What is your next question, dear?"

"Do both me and my inner self have to go together into the realm?"

"Eventually no, but since you are inexperienced, your inner self must be present to guide you to the Mind Pool realm. If you try to do it yourself without the proper experience, your mind will get lost on the way, rendering your body as a living but empty shell. However, your inner self can go into the mind realm on its own on your command in order to store any kind of information that you learn. The only drawback to that is that while your inner self is inside the realm, you will be unable to contact her. Now, are there anymore questions?"

Sakura shook her head. If she had more questions, she would ask them later. She didn't want to waste anymore time when she could be learning her clan's bloodline limit. "For now, no. When can start learning how to use our clan's bloodline?"

"To be honest dear, the only training you will have to do is learning how to connect natural chakra to your mind. Once you've done that, you will get immediate access to the Mind Pool. Now, I want you to sit next to a vacant crystal. Since you are just starting, you will need to use hand seals, but not the normal hand seals that are used for other jutsu outside of the ram seal. The good part is that our set of seals only contain 6 variants excluding the ram seal: Scorpion, Jaguar, Condor, Wolf, Turtle, and Bear." Somei showed Sakura what each of the hand seals looked like. Somei then tested her daughter to see if she could do the seals fast enough. Not surprisingly, it only took her 20 minutes to get all of the seals down and was now able to perform them at the same speed she performed the regular shinobi hand seals.

Once Sakura got that down, Somei decided it was time for Sakura to finally access the Mind Pool. "As you may have guessed, the ram seal acts as a link while the other seals do the actual work. Now then, I want you to do the following hand seals: ram, wolf, turtle, jaguar, ram. Once you perform the seals, simply say "**Mind Pool Jutsu**". You will then feel the natural chakra around you. Let it get as close as possible without it entering your body. If you let it get too far, break it off immediately. Now, begin."

Sakura practiced the jutsu given to her by her mother and continued to get the chakra as close to her mind as possible. On her first try, she let the chakra get too far and had to break it off as her body was beginning to go stiff. When asked why that happened, Somei told her that it was best she not know that for now and continue. Somei knew that if Sakura learned about the consequences for absorbing natural chakra without meeting certain conditions, it could have possibly interfered with her concentration.

Finally after an hour, Sakura managed to pull the jutsu off. Somei herself was shocked. It normally took a Haruno at least a few days and at most a few weeks to learn. Her very own daughter had learned how to do it in just 1 hour. _'Oh Kami...if I didn't know any better...I think my daughter is a prodigy.'_

Somei managed to hide her surprise well enough and urged Sakura to proceed. Sakura gave her a nod and went through the proper seals. Once she finished, she felt the natural chakra attach itself to her mind before everything went black, but only for what seemed like a few seconds. When Sakura 'woke', she saw what looked like some sort of dark tunnel. In front of the tunnel stood her inner self, obviously waiting for her.

"_**I must say, I thought I would be waiting much longer than this. You might be something special after all if you were able to get the hand seals down this fast let alone the jutsu itself." **_Inner Sakura praised.**_ "Now, take my hand and for Kami's sake, please don't let go."_**

Sakura slowly nodded and took her inner self's hand as instructed. She then remembered that she didn't even know what to call her inner self. _"What do I call you?"_

"_**My name is your name...but for the sake of confusion, just call me Inner Sakura or Blossom."**_ answered.

Sakura felt herself being pulled like taffy down the tunnel. While it felt extremely strange, it was surprisingly painless. After what seemed like minutes, a light appeared at the other end. Once they passed through the light, Sakura suddenly found herself surrounded by numerous buildings and houses. While the surroundings were quite different from Konoha itself, the format was obviously a shinobi village format with what seemed to be more advanced technology.

"_Wow..." Sakura gasped in awe. "This place...looks amazing."_

"_**Welcome to the Mind Pool realm, Sakura Haruno." **_Inner Sakura said. Sakura then looked up at the sky and noticed something else: it was pink.

_'Why am I not surprised...' _Sakura mentally deadpanned. She then noticed that her inner self was giving her a serious look. Somehow, she had the feeling that her inner self was somewhat upset with her.

"_**I will give you the tour at another time. For now, I will need to show you where your storage server is."**_

"_Storage server?"_

"_**Yes. It's where you store any information that you come across yourself. It is also where you and I will mentally be staying when you are here. Think of it as our house for this realm."**_

"_You'll be staying with me?"_

"_**Well of course I will. Where else would I stay?"**_

"_Oh never mind. Let's just go." _Sakura sighed.

As the two walked through the village, Sakura noted that all of the inhabitants were in fact other Harunos. She also noted two Haruno women that wore what looked like a red cybernetic suit that was form fitting (A/N: Like the suit that Gray Fox wears in Metal Gear Solid, except without the mask). Inner Sakura noticed where her gaze was and elaborated.

"_**Those women are CSS members. As your mother explained, they are the realm's security and law enforcement. Anyone who breaks the law here or comes here illegally are promptly dealt with...and believe me, in this world, they are Sannin level."**_

"_How are CSS members chosen anyway?"_ Sakura wondered out loud.

"_**Becoming a jonin is requirement unless the clan head, who is your mother, says otherwise. Also, you must master at least 80% of the clan jutsus. The clan can't have weak security when it comes to our most important power."**_

_'Makes sense. We'd lose our advantage as a clan. It wouldn't be long until other clans then try to absorb us into theirs.' Sakura mentally agreed._

After about 10 minutes of walking through the village, they finally reach their destination. The house itself look very close to her house with a few differences. One was that it seemed to have a satellite on top of the house. When they went inside, Sakura found out that the inside was not quite as familiar. There was no kitchen at all as well a bathroom. Sakura was about to ask why such important things were missing but stopped when it hit her – why the hell would you need to cook food or wash up? This was a realm built for the mind after all, not for a physical body.

They went up stairs to find a very different sight: in each room was what looked a lot like a virtual reality system. The names of numerous files were floating in mid-air. The whole room seemed to have icons representing different programs floating in the air.

"_Hey, Inner?" _Sakura spoke up, still looking completely baffled. Inner Sakura gave a 'hm?', indicating for her to ask her question.

"_Is it me or are we inside an iMac?"_

I-Sakura let out an amused chuckle. Her outer self maybe dense when it came to relationships, but she was quite smart when it came to other things.

"_**You're quite observant. The design and the way it is used is in fact, modeled after the Mac computer systems from Cole MacGrath's world."**_

"_I kind of figured that. Hard to believe that the world we live in is just a large continent among others." _Sakura said mostly to herself.

"_**...That's not exactly true."** _I-Sakura said a little hesitantly. Sakura looked at her in complete confusion. Inner Sakura looked at Sakura with complete seriousness – the kind of seriousness that was not to be ignored or taken lightly.

"_**Believe me when I say this: We are NOT apart of Cole's 'world' and vice versa. That's all I am allowed to say. The rest you will have to find on your own. There is a very good reason why that cover story was used. One more thing: when you do finally learn the truth – do not talk to anyone outside the Shinsei clan about it without their permission. It is considered a Omega-class secret, the highest level secret possible."**_

Sakura's eyes went wide upon hearing that. An Omega-class secret was extremely rare in the ninja world. Even certain information involving the Kyubi attack wasn't ranked that high. _'An Omega-class secret? That must mean that whatever this is affects not only Konoha, but the entire world as well.'_

The two Sakuras walked into what looked a lot like the pinkette's room in the real world, just with all sorts of digital-like files floating in mid-air, just like the other rooms.

"_**This is your room Sakura. Here is where you will story all of your personal information. You won't have to worry about privacy invasion since the room will only allow you and to a certain extent, me, into this room. All others must have your permission to enter. Even the CSS can't come in here without your consent, the clan head's, or a search warrant.**_

_**You will also be able to remotely access information that is either public or clan knowledge. Restricted information requires a password, a mind scan, and one other requirement unique to the information itself. Do you understand everything I have told you so far?"**_

"_Yes, I have. You said earlier at the academy that we needed to have a talk about Naruto. Why did you get so upset when I was about to yell at that baka anyway?" _Sakura questioned with a slight aggravation in her voice. She was stopped cold when she felt a heavy amount of KI come from her inner self.

"_**...Sakura, you aren't a bad person by nature, but I am very disappointed with your attitude and treatment towards him. Now, sit down."**_

Sakura gulped and did as her inner self instructed, sitting onto the floor indian style. Inner Sakura sat down in the same style, facing her.

"_**Now, what you are about to hear, see...and experience, is an S-Class secret. It's not quite as serious as the Omega-class secret I mentioned earlier, but that's because it effects this village only. The penalty for talking about this without the reigning hokage or Naruto's consent is death by execution."**_

"_Then why are you-" Sakura began, but stopped. She was about to ask a really stupid question. She realized that her inner self didn't count as an actual living being outside of her body and therefor couldn't be executed for 'telling herself'._

"_**However, I think it would be best if you actually see a few things before I say anything. One thing: keep an open mind and look underneath the underneath. Don't fall into the same trap that others in this village have. Now..." **_I-Sakura reaches for a floating file labeled 'RESTRICTED ACCESS', drags it over from its spot to in front of her with two fingers and flicks her index at it, opening the file. Inside the file were other files. Sakura noticed one that was labeled 'ROOT'. Inner Sakura saw this and shook her head.

"_**Believe me, you don't want to know what's in that file yet. The second you open it, a security notice will be tripped, alerting certain 'people' who may either, at best, watch you closely from here on out or, at worst, make you 'disappear'." **_Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine upon hearing that. She had overheard stories of ninjas, even jonins, who suddenly go missing, never to be seen again. One of the jonins who did disappear had mentioned some secret group according to the stories. Somehow, she got the feeling that this file is tied into that group.

"_**Even the CSS can't protect you in the real world from them. Once you get strong enough, then we will discuss the contents of that file."** _Inner Sakura warned.

_**'I really hate the fact that we Harunos had to allow Danzo access, even if it is extremely limited to the root file only. No matter, he will be dealt with in time.' **_ She inwardly scowled.

I-Sakura reached for the file labeled 'Naruto Uzumaki' and flicked it open. Sakura's eyes slightly widened in surprise. _'There's a restricted file on Naruto? Why?'_

As if to answer her question, I-Sakura spoke, **_"What you are about to see is a clip of Naruto when he was born. Don't worry, nothing bad happens in this clip, but pay attention to the other people in the clip. They are important, too."_**

I-Sakura opened it flicked at a motion file labeled 'Birth'. A video-type program opened and began playing the clip. It showed a woman with beautiful red hair along with some other people that she recognized. There was a blond-haired women with a diamond like seal on her forehead and had a huge chest size; She was acting as a mid-wife.

"_Tsunade..." _She half whispered to herself. I-Sakura nodded. She also noticed another blond holding the red haired woman's hand in an effort to try and comfort her. This blond, however was a male and had wild spiky hair that went in nearly every direction.

"_Blossom, Isn't that the Yondaime?" _

"_**Right again, Sakura. You're 2 for 2."**_

On the opposite side of the red head's bed was a man with a shaved head with a biker's jacket on.

"_Wait...is that MacGrath-san? From the other world?"_

"_**She's heating up, folks. Care to tell me who the red head is? Take your time on this one..." **_I-Sakura said.

Sakura brought her front finger up to her lips, obviously in thinking mode. _"Well, I know for a fact that based on the name of the file and that this red-haired woman is in labor, I'd have to guess that this person is Naruto's mother."_

"_**A bit obvious, but still not too bad since there are some average people who would still miss that."**_

"_I know I've seen this woman before, but I can't seem to put my finger on it..." _Sakura was silent for several moments as the clip continued to show the woman grunting and screaming in pain for obvious reasons. Sakura's eyes began to wonder a bit around the room, a habit she has when she is stuck on something while thinking.

She was about to tell I-Sakura that she couldn't remember when her eyes stopped on a folder in the corner closest to the window labeled 'Ninja Countries and Villages'. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she got up and walked over to the file to have a closer look. I-Sakura saw her outer self get up to investigate the file, but didn't make any attempt to stop her. Her outer self needed to know how to get around inside the system on her own eventually. It wouldn't hurt to let her explore a little, especially if the girl thought it was important.

Sakura flicked open the folder and saw what she expected to see: files with the names of the numerous ninja villages along with each country. That's when she saw something that really got her attention: the file labeled 'Uzugakure'. _'Hidden Eddie Village? I think I remember studying about that village during history class. If I remember correctly, they were on the verge of becoming the 6th great shinobi nation until Iwa supposedly launched an unprovoked attack on it, destroying the inner part of the village where the Uzukage Tower was located. The Uzukage herself actually survived the attack and-' _

Sakura froze. _'...The Uzukage...'. _Sakura quickly opened the folder and began searching for a picture of the kage in question. After a few moments, she finally found a visual still file labeled '3rd Uzukage'. She opened the file and got a very big shock. In front of her was a red-haired kunoichi in orange and black kage robes. Under that picture was a name: Kushina Uzumaki.

_'Could it be...?' _Sakura mentally gasped.

"_**Sakura, it's almost time. Come and see this." **_I-Sakura beckoned. Sakura nodded and sat back down in front of the video clip.

"_Come on honey, push!"_ Minato encouraged.

"_I AM pushing, Minato! This is all your fault, damnit!"_ the redhead screamed.

"_Try to regulate your breathing, Kushina. It wil-"_ Tsunade began but was cut off when Kushina shot up and glared at the slug sannin.

"_**Fuck my breathing!"**_ she growled in what could have been mistaken as a demonic voice. Tsunade was a bit startled, but continued to work. Minato, on the other hand, slowly backed away. He wasn't stupid; when Kushina was pissed, things got broken – objects and people alike.

"_Oh boy..."_ Cole mumbled. Kushina whipped her head around towards him and glared a hole through him. Cole instantly shut up.

"_I guess people weren't kidding when they say that red-heads have a fiery temper." Sakura sweat-dropped._

"_**Yeah. Even you don't get this fired up when you fought over Sasuke with Ino." **_ agreed, also sweat-dropping.

"_So that women really is Kushina Uzumaki, the Sandaime Uzukage?" _Sakura said, turning towards her Inner self.

"_**Yup, that's her alright. Make no mistake – that woman was considered the most dangerous kunoichi in the ninja world. Even Tsunade Senju wasn't a match for her, and Tsunade has a 'flee-on-sight' order by most ninja villages."**_ I-Sakura answered. Their conversation was interrupted when they heard crying. Both Sakuras turned their attention back to the clip just in time to see Tsunade smiling while holding a newborn in her hands.

"_Oh Kami...he's beautiful!"_ Kushina cried tears of joy. Minato couldn't keep his tears down any longer either.

"_I have a son...a son to call my own..."_ the Yondaime nearly whispered. Cole slapped Minato on the back, congratulating the blond hokage.

Sakura just continued to stare. _"Is that...Naruto?"_

"**_Um hm. That's him alright."_** I-Sakura answered, pointing towards baby Naruto's face. Three whisker marks on each cheek were clearly visible.

Sakura was silent for a moment, staring at the newly born blond. Her face then formed a soft smile. "_He's was as cute then as he is now..." _Her eyes widened upon realizing what she had just said out loud. _'Wait, did I just say that?'_

Normally, she would have denied this, but what was the point? Naruto wasn't ugly – far from it, actually. She was just too infatuated with Sasuke to even acknowledge it. I-Sakura grinned as if to say 'Oh really?', but didn't say anything about it for now. She could always tease the pinkette about it later.

"_That memory wasn't bad at all." _Sakura commented as the clip ended. She thought that the clip would show something bad happen. However, her relief was short-lived when she saw the look on 's face, which held a very sad look.

"_**Unfortunately, that was one of the few good clips in this file. These next few..."**_ She didn't finish. These next few clips would change everything: for better or for worse. I-Sakura reached for a movie clip labeled 'October 10, 986 AS* and opened it, causing it to play. It showed a partially destroyed section of the village wall with a few destroyed buildings. The "camera" then shifts to show a large orange-red fox with 9 tails.

"_That's the..." _Sakura gasped.

"_**...Kyubi, yes." **_Finished for her.

The beast was a fair distance away from the village, but it was obvious that something was wrong with it. As the person recording moved closer to the fox, Sakura saw what looked like a giant toad with giant pipe in its mouth and a giant Tanto in its hands. There was also a scare on its left eye.

"_That's Gamabunta, the toad king, isn't it?"_ Sakura asked, to which I-Sakura nodded. She then noticed a figure on top of the toad king. The figure was wearing a white coat/cloak with flames on the bottom. He had blonde hair. It was Minato, the Yondaime.

Sakura saw that the blond hokage was holding something. In the Yondaime's arms was a new born baby. _'Why is he holding a new-born baby?'_ Sakura asked as the recorder got closer. That's when she recognized who the baby was – and gasped.

"_Why is Naruto in Yondaime's arms while he's facing off against a tailed beast?"_ Sakura half yelled. She then felt I-Sakura's hand on her shoulder, obviously an attempt to calm her down.

"_**You will see in a moment. Keep in mind, however, that everything is not what it seems."**_ I-Sakura answered. Sakura turned her attention back to the video in time to hear Minato speak.

"_Kyubi, I know this isn't your fault, but I don't have any other choice."_ Minato spoke. Although the Kyubi looked ready to attack, it was obvious that it was trying desperately to hold itself back for some reason.

"_**I...understand, human. Please...do what...you must do. Where...is your mate?"**_ It asked, struggling to keep itself in place. Minato's face showed one of sadness, but one of confusion as well.

"_I'm...not sure. She disappeared when I went to go pick up Naruto. There was lots of blood in her room...but only a small amount belonged to her. I...think something happened to her, but I don't know if she's alive or not..."_ Minato had a look of uncertainty. Then his face changed into a deep scowl. _"...but I do know one thing: I almost certain that old bastard Danzo is behind it."_

"_**I...see. In that case...the kit is going to need...my protection. I wonder...does he have...your mate's bloodline?"**_

"_I don't know. Kushina did tell me that there was a possibility of it being passed on, but she wasn't 100% sure at the time. I need you to keep Naruto safe while he is sealed inside of you. I love my village and I've requested that he be seen as a hero, but with Danzo around, there's no telling..."_

"_**I'll do you one...better. I'll keep him...away from...the Uchiha clan...so that they...don't take advantage...of him along with that old fool you mentioned earlier. Now please...hurry. My will...is starting to lose its power."**_

"_I understand. Please, forgive me for what I must do."_ Minato then went through some complicated hand seals.

Sakura looked on in shock. She was shocked that the Kyubi wasn't the mindless monster it was made out to be and that said beast was sealed inside Naruto. She watched as the air around the area swirled with energy like a raging tropical storm. She then noticed something strange – Minato had a look of resignation on his face, but she saw it change into one of shock before a blinding light flashed. When the light disappeared, the giant fox nor Minato were nowhere to be seen.

Sakura turned to her inner self and began to ask, but I-Sakura held a hand up. _**"Yes, I noticed that too when I saw this video before. I have a theory on what may have happened, but I'd rather discuss this with Naruto's tenant first before I do it with anyone else."**_

"_Wait, how are you going to do that, Blossom?" Sakura asked incredulously._

"_**You'll find out soon enough, but you aren't ready for that...yet. This next clip is actually a compilation of events that span from 6 months to 10 years after the attack."**_

"Sakura faintly nodded, still thinking about the last clip. _"I still can't believe that Naruto has a demon inside of him..."_

"_**Don't judge him just yet. You've witnessed that Naruto was in fact born before the Kyubi attack occurred, so you know that he isn't the Kyubi. Once you get back to the real world and pay more attention to the villagers' attitude towards him, you'll realize that they don't see it that way."**_

I-Sakura pinched the compilation file she wanted and drug it over in front of her and Sakura, then flicked at it. The first part showed a newly promoted chunin attempting to kill Naruto while he was in his crib inside the hokage's office.

Sakura went pale with horror as she saw the sick and twisted look on the chunin's face. "_Oh Kami...did...this actually happen?"_

The chunin was seconds away from slitting the infant's throat when he felt something cut into his own throat – and then lots of warm liquid spilling out of it. As he held his own throat, trying in vain to stop the blood from gushing out, he managed to get a glimpse of his killer – an ANBU agent with a dog mask, with silver hair sticking out. Even through the mask, Sakura could sense the intense hatred for the would-be child killer.

"_People like you are a disgrace to not only ninja, but to mankind in general. Try not to piss Yumi off too much while you burn."_ came the ANBU's cold tone.

_'That voice...it sounds so familiar...' _Sakura thought. Before she could voice her thought, the scene changed to one of Naruto at the age of 4. Sakura recognized the room as one from an orphanage. The owner, a civilian woman, came into the room where all the children were, including Naruto. The next thing Sakura saw was the woman suddenly hitting Naruto, sending him halfway across the room.

Naruto had tears in his eyes, asking what he did wrong. The woman responded by continuing to hit him until he fell unconscious. _"That was for taking my husband away, you demon brat!"_ she yelled angrily. The rest of the children were confused and didn't know what to say or do. Seeing this, the woman threatened to not feed them at all if they even talked to the blond. Like any scared child, they obeyed and simply ignored Naruto whenever he tried to talk to them.

Sakura simply stared in complete shock. That was child abuse – and what was worse was that the woman blamed him for the death of her husband. _"I don't understand...how can she blame Naruto for something the Kyubi did – which even now, I'm beginning to think that even she wasn't the mastermind behind the attacks."_

"_**Because, she was stupid. Civilians don't have an understanding of how seals work and as a result, think that Naruto IS the Kyubi."**_ nearly growled, angry at the woman who took her heartache out on innocent child.

"_Then why didn't we attempt to vote in a law requiring civilians to know the basics of seals and how they work?"_ Sakura asked like it was the most obvious answer – which, ironically, was an obvious solution.

"_**There were a couple of attempts, one by the Sandaime, and one by the Sannin Orochimaru. While most of the shinobi council voted in favor of it, nearly every civilian council member voted against it. The Council elders held the tie-breaker but they **__**almost always side with the civilians and both bills were ultimately defeated. Granted, Orochimaru used some of his free time to volunteer at the academy and teach the basics of seals to anyone who was interested, but it wasn't anywhere near enough."**_ I-Sakura said sadly.

I-Sakura's face then turned stern. Sakura gulped. Somehow she knew that the look was geared towards her. _**"Sakura...while I don't believe that you are a bad person, you were part of the problem – and I am very disappointed in you for it."**_

"_I-I don't understand. W-What did I do?" _Sakura stuttered, slightly scared by the look her inner self was giving her.

"_**Instead of telling you, I think I'll show you instead."**_ I-Sakura responded as she flicked open a file that read 'Academy Years'. Sakura's eyes widened upon seeing that even the academy was under surveillance. It was obviously lunch time upon seeing most of the students eating bentos or boxed lunches. Sakura saw herself and a blond-haired girl sitting together, eating their lunches. It was her former best friend and current rival, Ino.

She was about to ask her inner self what the point of the clip was when she noticed another blond walking towards them. _'That's Naruto...'_ Sakura mused. Naruto attempted to greet them, but was rudely turned away.

"_Go away, loser. My mom said that you were a bad person."_ She heard Ino say. Young Sakura started to apologize, but was cut off when Ino told her that most of the parents told them to stay away from him, implying that he must have done something wrong. When Sakura nodded in agreement, Naruto walked away with a sad look on his face. Sakura looked down, suddenly finding the floor quite interesting.

That scene disappeared and was replaced by another, this time in the middle of a sparring session. She saw Sasuke practicing his aim, throwing kunais. One kunai hit a beam, ricocheting off of it and grazed Sakura, giving her a deep gash in her arm. Seeing what he did, Sasuke did a quick look around and spotted Naruto not too far away. He then yelled, _"What hell, dobe? Watch where you're throwing that!"_

That caused most of the students to turn towards the blond and scowl at him. Naruto looked absolutely stunned. He knew that he didn't throw any kunai, but when he tried to explain what happened, Sakura started yelling at him, telling him that because of him her she would have to get at least 25 stitches in her arm. Nobody noticed the smirk on Sasuke's face.

Sakura's eyes widened. _"S-Sasuke did that?"_

That wasn't the worse part. _'Not only that, he made it look like Naruto did it...and I yelled at him instead, thinking that he was being reckless.'_

The scenes kept changing, constantly showing Sakura's (and to a lessor extent, Ino's) treatment of the whiskered blond. Each scene that she saw caused her heart to crack just a little bit. Even the scene on exam day where she rudely turned him away in front of the whole class for saying 'hi' made her heart ache. _'Have I really been this cruel to him?'_

Another more recent clip began to play...

_**Clip playback**_

"_My dream is to become a good medical ninja and have a family...although I honestly don't know with whom anymore."_

"_And your dislikes?"_

"_I hate Naruto! He's so annoying, loud, and stupid! He keeps bugging me for a date even though I keep saying 'no'! For once, I wish he would just leave me alone!"_ Sakura said in an aggravated tone.

Naruto couldn't keep the look of hurt off of his face.

_**End clip playback**_

"_**Sakura, do you remember that day when you were being teased and beat up by some of this village's local bullies?" **_I-Sakura questioned, with a look on her face that said that she knew something about it. Sakura nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment. The clips that she had to watch made her heart hurt.

I-Sakura un-paused the clip to let it run once more. This time, the clip showed a 8-year old Sakura getting teased by some rough looking boys of the same age. One of them even pushed her roughly to the ground while another threw a rock at her forehead; not enough to draw blood, but enough to knock her out.

"_I...I remember when this happened. I was getting beat up by those bullies and lost consciousness. Next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital to see Sasuke looking down at me, before walking out of the room..." _Sakura said in a quiet tone.

"_**Really?" **_I-Sakura's tone gave away the fact that she knew this was false. **_"I think you'd better watch this, then..."_**

Sakura looked up to see that her younger shelf was no longer conscious. The leader of the bullies, a blond with a eerily similar shade of hair color as her friend Ino, took out what looked to be a switchblade. The other bullies actually went a bit pale.

"_Wait a minute, Newazashi! Don't you think this is going a little to far?"_ One of the kids said, slightly worried that he could get in trouble.

"_Of course not. This little bitch needs to know her place. I'll just carve my initials into her billboard-sized forehead, marking her as mine. Think of it as a walking ...hehehe... advertisement, so to speak."_ Newazashi grinned evilly.

His switchblade was only inches away from the pinkette's forehead when he felt something wrong. He looked up and was shocked to see his "lieutenants" out like lights. That's when he heard someone from behind him speak.

"_Don't. Touch. Her."_ came a voice that could freeze hell over. Newazashi slowly turned around, only to come face-to-face with a boy with blond, spiky hair and whisker marks on his cheek. He know who this was: Naruto Uzumaki. His father had told him that he was the Kyubi reborn, but was warned to never tell anyone else.

"_D-Demon!"_ The blond bully stuttered in fear. _"Please don't kill me! Take her instead!"_

Naruto only seemed to get angrier, but only when he said the last part. That when Newazashi felt something bury itself into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. _"You're nothing but a coward, you piece of garbage. If I ever catch you do what you were about to do to her or anyone else I care about, I will make your life a living hell. Now SCRAM...and take your little yes-boys with you!"_

Newazashi nodded quickly, woke up his friends, and took off running. Naruto looked over at the unconscious Sakura and had a sad look on his face. _"I know that you don't think very highly of me, Sakura-chan...but I don't hold that against you because...you're important to me."_

He was just about to pick her up and take her to the hospital when he heard a familiar voice speak, _"I highly suggest you put her down and walk away, dobe."_

Naruto looked up to see Sasuke Uchiha, along with some members of the Uchiha police force, smirking at him. Naruto didn't like the way he was smirking, almost as if he was up to something.

"_I don't have time for this crap, Sasuke! Some bully named Newazashi-"_ Naruto began, but was cut off.

"_Yes, I know. He's part of the Yamanaka clan, although most of the members don't really like him. What you should be concerned about is what will happen if I tell people that you beat up an innocent girl."_ Sasuke cut him off with a grin that could make a few hardcore criminals sweat.

"_You son of a bitch! You know that's not what happened!"_ Naruto shouted in anger, but before he could berate the Uchiha prodigy any further, he was cut off once more, this time by a Uchiha policeman.

"_Sasuke, go home and inform your father what has happened. We will be by later to give him a full report. You can go by the hospital to see this common worthless girl later." _ Sasuke nodded and took off, but not before smirking at Naruto and jeered, _"Don't even bother telling anyone, dobe. Nobody's going to believe trash like you."_

Naruto tightened his fist, causing him to draw blood.

"_Sasuke-sama is correct: it doesn't matter what you say. No one will believe you – we'll be sure of that. Now leave, demon or we will kill you."_ One of the Policemen threatened.

"_How do I know that you won't do something to Sakura-chan?"_

"_We don't have a reason to do anything to her. However, we can't let people find out that you are some good Samaritan. We won't say it again: Leave."_ the same policeman repeated the threat. Naruto looked at him with such disdain, causing him to slightly glow, before turning around to leave. However, he wasn't finished.

"_If I hear that something has happened to Sakura-chan...I will hold the ENTIRE Uchiha clan responsible...and believe me..."_ He turned around to look at them, his eyes glowing. _"That will be a VERY bad thing."_ The blond said coldly as he took off.

Sakura's heart broke right there. The person that she had treated like complete garbage was the one to protect her, not Sasuke Uchiha. Tears began to pour down her cheeks.

"_How could I?"_ She nearly whispered. _"I was so cruel to him. He protected me even though I treated him like trash. The villagers tried to kill him for something that wasn't his fault at all!"_

She turned towards her inner self still crying. _"I understand now why you're so disappointed with me. I don't blame you – not one bit. I don't even understand why you don't despise me..."_

I-Sakura, who had a hard look on her face during the clip, softened. _**"While I am not happy with your past actions, I still think you are a good person."**_

"_H-How can you say that? Naruto was all alone for almost his entire life because of something he didn't have any control over and I told him that I hated him! He must been so heartbroken when I said that! I nothing but a heartless bitch!" _Sakura wailed.

**SLAP**

Sakura instantly stopped yelling when she felt the side of her face stinging. Inner Sakura had slapped her. However, before she could say anything, she felt herself being embraced in a hug.

"_**Don't ever call yourself that. There are a lot of people far more deserving of that insult than you. Do you understand?"**_ I-Sakura whispered in a soft motherly-type voice. She felt her outer self nod before they both let go.

"_**Besides, if you were a bad person, you won't be reacting like this at all. If anything, I think you do care about him..." **_

"_Do you think he hates me?"_ Sakura said quietly.

I-Sakura shook her head. _**"No. In fact, I'm very certain that he would sacrifice his life to make you happy, which may explain why he hasn't outright attacked Sasuke."**_

I-Sakura then felt a surprisingly high amount of killing intent. She realized that it was coming from her outer self. _"I...am going to beat the HELL out of that bastard for what he's done to Naruto-kun. Make no mistake, Blossom...he'g going to get what's coming to him...one way or another." Sakura ice cold tone actually sent shivers down I-Sakura's spine._

"**_Kami...I knew she could get mad...but not THIS mad..." _**But she inwardly grinned, not missing the 'kun' that Sakura had added onto the end of Naruto's name and sing-songed the words that a certain demon vixen once said. **_"Somebody's fuuuucked..."_**

***A**fter **S**age; referring to the Sage of Six Paths. There isn't any actually information on when he was born or died that I know of. If anyone has any info along with proof, please let me know and I will change it accordingly.

Yes, I know that there are certain things that are different than the cannon (I won't ruin it for those who haven't been keeping up), but keep in mind that this is a AU fic. It isn't meant to mirror cannon exactly. Still, there are some cannon elements that will be used in this fic (specifically the elements due to recent developments in the cannon) so don't worry. Also, just to give you a heads up, Madara Uchiha isn't going to play a big role in this fic. You will find out what happened to him, though. That's all that I will say.


	6. Chapter 6 The Test, Part 1

KyuubiKid123: Actually, he doesn't wear that outfit in this fic. I could be wrong, but I'm under the impression that he wore that eyesore of an outfit because it was the only thing that he could get and wear. Still, thanks for letting me know. I'll be sure to describe what he and everyone else wears if it is different from cannon.

Karl Skywalker: That's actually fairly close to what I'm going for. I want to keep some things as a surprise of course, but you are right that I am going for a balanced team. As for Ino, she comes to the same realization as Sakura during the same time span (that's what her inner self wanted to talk to her about). Since most are familiar with Ino's special abilities, an explanations will be drastically shorter than the last chapter and/or will be touched up on in flashbacks. One thing to keep in mind: Ino's inner self is somewhat different than Sakura's inner self and while her and Naruto will eventually see the mind pool realm, is it doesn't come Natural for them and have to use work-arounds (Naruto's should be fairly obvious). Even then, they don't get their own 'house' like Sakura does since they aren't part of the Haruno clan.

Montie1123: I know it may seem like that, but the chapter's primary purpose was to introduce the mind pool to readers. The concept that I came up with isn't something I can explain in one or so paragraphs. Yes, there is more, but to keep the story rolling, I didn't want to spend several straight chapters explaining everything about the Mind Pool realm and it's connections to the Haruno clan. Don't worry, Ino will likely get a whole chapter to herself later to balance it out.

Thanks to everyone who has read and/or commented on my story so far!

**I do not own Naruto or InFamous...but I could win the lottery someday... **_cackles with glee_****

**Chapter 6: The Test – Part 1**

_**Konoha training ground #7 – 7:30 am, 2 days later**_

Naruto arrived at training ground #7 just as Kakashi had instructed and sat under one of the larger trees. Two days ago, he had learned that while he wasn't the clan head, since he was the official successor to the Shinsei clan, he had to attend the meeting. All officially announced clan head successors were required to attend meetings to get an understanding of how politics work. While they weren't allowed to vote on certain matters, which was up to the hokage to which issues those were, they were allowed to speak their opinions should their respective clan heads allow it.

Still, yesterday's meeting was an important one nevertheless...

**FLASHBACK**

_Hiruzen Sarutobi looked around the meeting room at the various clans and their members. This meeting was going to be a somewhat stressful one enough as it is. It had almost gotten even more stressful when the civilian council had gotten wind that a certain blond-haired had been promoted to genin and demanded that they be allowed to attend the meeting and vote to strip Naruto of his newly-obtained ninja license. _

_However, they were forced to abandon that demand when Sarutobi called in several ANBU and ordered them to escort the civilian council members away from the meeting room after telling them that the meeting was strictly a shinobi matter. Akogi made the most noise, demanding that Sakura be stripped of her license along with Naruto. However, Sarutobi paid no attention to his demands. Deep down, Sarutobi was sickened by what he had learned about this man. He couldn't do anything about it since the Uchiha police force were the ones who took care of civilian crimes, but now that Naruto and Sakura were official ninja of Konoha..."_

_He was brought out of his thoughts when his old students, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru got his attention, informing him that all members of the ninja council had arrived. Seeing that everyone was indeed present, the sandaime decided to begin the meeting._

"_Now that everyone is here, let's get down to it since there is a lot that we must discuss. As you all know - two days ago, there was a plot to steal the forbidden scroll. The traitor, Mizuki, was aprehended by Iruka Umino and Naruto Uzumaki Shinsei."_

_The clan heads gave a small smile to Naruto, who sat next to Tsunade. The civilian council and most of the villagers may be too stupid to see that Naruto wasn't a demon and wasn't worthless, but they knew better. Naruto really did have the potential to be a great kage. The only clan that seemed to hate him as much as the villagers was the Uchiha clan. That's when most of them noticed that a representative of said clan wasn't in the meeting hall._

"_Hokage-sama, why isn't the Uchiha clan present for this meeting?" Hiashi inquired. The serious look on the Sandaime's face didn't go unnoticed by the Hyuga head._

"_Because...I have reason to believe that certain members of the Uchiha clan maybe involved in the attempted theft of the forbidden scrolls and the sabotaging of our ninja academy. Mizuki was hired by one of the Uchiha members, it would seem..." Sarutobi said with a small hint of anger. _

_Everyone, except Naruto and the Sannin, gasped in shock. Even Hiashi Hyuga, who normally kept his emotions in check, couldn't keep such a look off of his face. It was somewhat acceptable to try and play politics to obtain knowledge on certain jutsu from the ruling hokage to help strengthen the clan's position in the village. Stealing jutsu, however, was not only considered taboo, but outright treasonous. _

_After a few moments of low mumbling, Tsume Inuzuka spoke up, "Hokage-sama, do you know who exactly was involved?"_

"_No, but it is certain that whoever is behind this is very high up on the Uchiha chain of command." Sarutobi answered her. Naruto looked like he wanted to say something and thought it would be better to keep quiet, but Hiashi noticed this. 'He has a lot of potential, but he has to learn that we aren't the civilian council and won't scold him for speaking his mind.'_

"_Naruto-san, do you have something on your mind?" Hiashi said in his usual calm manner. Naruto seemed surprised at first, but sighed remembering that it was hard to hide facial expressions from a Hyuga._

"_I think...Sasuke Uchiha...might be involved to some extent," the blond said._

_Shikaku raised an eyebrow at the blonds suspicions. "Granted, the boy is troublesome, but that is a serious accusation, Naruto-san."_

"_I know Nara-san, but I won't make such an accusation unless I was certain it was true. I have evidence that he accepted a completely filled out test paper. There's something else...somehow, he knows about my tenant." Naruto said seriously._

"_He does?" the sandaime exclaimed. "Are you certain, Naruto?"_

"_He called me 'demon scum'. Doesn't get more obvious than that." Naruto growled at the memory. It was bad enough that most of the civilian and Uchiha clan adults were calling him that._

_The clan heads were also shocked...and angry. They knew that the Uchiha clan were filled with a lot of arrogant fools, but they didn't think that the clan would go as far as to outright ignore the sandaime's law and tell their kids anyway. Unfortunately, because they didn't know who told Sasuke, no punishment can be leveled at this time._

"_Going back to the main topic, do you have proof that Mizuki was indeed employed by someone from the Uchiha clan?" Choza Akimichi spoke up. Naruto turned to Sarutobi, who nodded for the boy to go on and show them what they saw that night. Naruto pulled out the same recording scroll he had used that night and re-played the entire video. After the video concluded, all of the clan heads agreed: this was a serious matter and it needed their undivided attention._

"_What could the Uchiha clan possibly want with the forbidden scroll?" Hiashi mused out loud._

"_I would have thought it was obvious, Hiashi-san," came Orochimaru's voice. "After my brief...moment of madness years back, I had to put those horrible jutsu in that scroll. If the Uchiha clan got their hands on some of those jutsu..." the snake sannin didn't finish that sentence. It scared him too much to think of the things that those red-eyed bastards would do._

"_I second that," Jiraiya agreed. "The Uchiha clan is obsessed with power and they will do anything to get it...one way or another."_

"_What should we do, Sarutobi-sensei? It's obvious that we can't trust the Uchiha clan at this point..." Tsunade added._

"_While we don't have enough evidence to act at this time, they have raised enough suspicion for us to take a closer look. Jiraiya, you will continue to monitor the situation and inform me of any plans the Uchiha clan may have." Sarutobi commanded._

"_Hai, sensei." Jiraiya said, giving a slight bow._

**END FLASHBACK**

The rest of the meeting consisted of the usual topics: progress on village projects, funding, reports from the surrounding villages in fire country, and the economy. Even sports was touched up on as Jiraiya himself was attempting to bring an expansion football team to Konoha now that the Shinobi Football League had announced that it would expand by 2 teams, bring the total number of teams up to 24 [AN: a list will be provided in the next chapter in case some of you are curious]. While most were for getting a team since it could bring millions upon millions of ryo into the city, nobody was willing to step forward to buy one up until now. Even Orochimaru thought about investing a small amount into the new team.

Naruto sighed as he continued to stare up at the sky. It still hurt that his own teammates turned him down when he offered to buy lunch as a way to get to know them. _'_What did I ever do to them that caused them to dislike me so much?' Naruto asked himself.

"**Kit, try not to dwell on it so much. It'll only get you depressed."** Kyubi said softy.

_'_I know...but I can't help it. Maybe...I'm meant to be alone for the rest of my life...'he responded in sadness. Kyubi couldn't help but feel horrible for her container. Not only was he beaten, chased, and targeted for assassination by adults, but those same adults were telling their kids that Naruto was a bad person and that he didn't deserve to have friends.

'Please don't say that, Naruto-kun.'came a soft voice inside his head.

Naruto quickly sat up in surprise. He was quite sure that it wasn't Kyubi who said that. "Who's there?" he asked out loud.

'Calm down, foxy. It's just me.' Naruto still looked confused as all get out. He knew that voice, but...

_'_Turn around.' Naruto turned to his left and saw his blond teammate, who was looking at him with a small smile, but a smile that also held a bit of worry. He was also wondering how she snuck up on him without feeling her presence.

"I-Ino-chan? Was that you...'talking' to me?" Naruto asked out loud, clearly in shock. Ino simply nodded.

"Holy shit...how did you..." Naruto began to ask, but then he remembered what Ino had said the day of team placement. "Was...this what you were talking about a few days ago?"

"Not directly, but it's related. My clan, the Yamanaka clan, specializes in human psychology. My kekkei genkai allows me to use telepathy, normally within my family. However, daddy told me that there are others outside of the family that could also communicate with us. Seems my hunch was correct – you are one of those few." Ino explained.

"**Interesting...I didn't think she would learn her clan's kekkei genkai that fast."** Kyubi said, mostly to herself.

'Wait, you knew about this?' Naruto accused. He wasn't actually angry, but he was slightly annoyed that his tenant knew about this and neglected to tell him. It could have saved him from a potential heart attack.

"**Of course I knew, kit. I've been around for thousands of years. How can I NOT know?" **Kyubi responded dryly.

Naruto mentally sighed. He knew he shouldn't have asked such a dumb question. '...I see your point, but you could have told me, you know...'

"**I'm sorry kit, but I wanted her to be the one to explain that when she learned of her powers. It is her's after all."**

'Thank you, Kyubi-sama. At least I know that you won't tell anyone who doesn't need to know...although Naruto-kun is entitled to that right since we are going to be teammates.'Ino thanked her.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Y-you know about...my tenant?"

Ino sighed. She knew she had some explaining to do since Naruto holding the Nine-tailed Fox wasn't public knowledge (to people her age, anyway). "Yes, Naruto-kun, I do. Still, I think it would be best to wait until forehead gets here before we start talking about that. I know it's an S-Class secret and that only you and the hokage can reveil that secret, but don't you think that it's unfair that everyone except her knows?" Ino explained.

Naruto didn't say anything, but the Kyubi seemed to agree with the blond kunoichi. **"Kit, she's right. If you choose not to tell her, then that's your right, but know this: Sooner or later, she WILL find out about me. Should that happen and she also learns that everyone else had this knowledge but her, she may never fully trust any of you."**

Naruto stayed silent for a moment, giving what the demon vixen had told him some thought. _'They're right. I don't want Sakura-chan to hate me, but she'll find out anyway...and it would be worse than NOT telling her.'_ Naruto clinched his fists. He didn't like this at all. Telling people about the Kyubi was not something he was looking forward to doing. He didn't want to lose the few friends that he did have or could make.

Moments later, Naruto sensed a small chakra signature approaching the training grounds. Looks like he wouldn't have to wait very long to start explaining as the two blonds noticed that the figure had pink hair.

_'_Well...if she didn't like me before...' Naruto thought to himself sadly.

Ino felt her heart beginning to break after hearing him think that. _'Please Sakura ...please... don't hurt Naruto-kun. I may care about our friendship, but if you really hate him because of the Kyubi...' _She couldn't finish that thought.

As Sakura got closer, the two blonds noticed that her normal behavior wasn't present. She seemed to be going through a range of emotions and not all of them seemed to be good, either. Before Naruto or Ino could ask if she was ok, she slowly held up her hand as if to politely let her speak.

"Naruto...I know. I know who you are. I know...everything." the pinkette said in a even voice that held a hint of emotion. Naruto felt his heart beginning to ache. She knew about Kyubi. She hated him. The boy couldn't take it anymore and started to turn around to leave, but was stopped when he felt two arms wrap around him and some additional weight leaning against his back. At first he thought it was Ino attempting to confort him, but he saw her out of the corner of his eye staring at his back with a slightly stunned look.

That's when he realized that it was Sakura latching on to him...and she was sobbing into his back. _'What's going on? Why is Sakura-chan hugging me?'_ he asked in his mind. Kyubi, on the other hand, knew what was going on and smiled softly. **"Let her explain, Naruto-kun. I think you'll like it."**

Naruto turned himself around with Sakura still attached to him, causing her to look up. What he saw surprised him. She wasn't angry or scared. Her face had a look of...guilt?

"Naruto...I'm sorry." she said softly, tears running down her cheeks. "You didn't deserve to be treated the way I treated you these past years. I was such a bitch to you while you continued to be kind and caring towards me."

Naruto then noticed that Ino was also crying. He was about to ask, but Ino began to speak, "Naruto-kun...I'm sorry, too. You were hurting when we said those awful things to you...and not once did you deserve them."

Naruto was still stunned. He never thought both Sakura and Ino would apologize for their mistreatment of him during their time at the academy, let alone tell him that they didn't hate him because he held the nine-tailed vixen inside of him. Still, he wanted to have that confirmed.

"You...don't hate me? If you know about the Kyubi, why don't you hate me like everyone else?"

Ino came up and rested a hand gently on the side of his face and continued, "Naruto...you're not the Kyubi...and we're certainly not like those idiot villagers who can't separate a kunai from a storage scroll." Naruto still looked like he didn't know what to make of this.

"Naruto...let me ask you something: Are you a girl?" Sakura asked. Naruto gave her a look that asked 'Are you serious?', but shook his head 'no' anyway.

"Well then, you're definitely NOT the Kyubi, now are you?" Sakura winked at him.

"H-how did you-" Naruto began, but Sakura put a finger to his lips.

"I told you, Naruto-kun...I know everything, including the fact that she wasn't at fault for what happened when she attacked the village. I also owe you this..." Sakura planted a soft kiss on his cheek, causing Naruto to turn a good shade of red.

"That was for saving me from those bullies when we were kids." She then explained to him about the incident involving Newazashi and his cronies, how Sasuke had threatened to lie about Naruto hurting her, and the Uchiha police force covering it up. Ino wasn't very happy about what her cousin was going to do to her best friend. Newazashi caused enough problems in the Yamanaka clan alone, let alone the village itself.

"If I had known what was going on, I would have beaten that piece-of-shit cousin to within an inch of his life." Ino said with a dark look on her face. Both Naruto and Sakura looked at her with a stunned looked on their faces. They would've never thought that Ino would do such a thing to her own cousin. Ino saw the looks and decided to explain herself.

"Just because he's my cousin, it doesn't mean that I like him. Daddy is only considering him for clan head because there are certain people in the civilian council who support him and are making threats towards daddy and the rest of our clan. In truth, dad and most of the clan believe that he is nothing more than a bully that thinks he can get what he wants through threats. I absolutely hate his guts."

Sakura then explained how she knew about the Kyubi, Naruto's parents, and everything else in between using her clan's kekkei genkai, the mind pool. Naruto – and to a certain extent, Ino – was surprised that Sakura had such a power.

"My inner self told me that your inner self was your kekkei genkai. I certainly don't have the kind of power that you have access to," Ino admitted. "I can get access to someone's memories via my clan jutsu. Still, I can't do what forehead can do, which is to store and have access to information. I can only record a person's visual memories. Other than visual memories, we don't have a way of storing other kinds of information outside of old-fashioned memorization."

"That maybe true piggy, but the mind pool is an massive archive filled with information that we Harunos have recorded over the years. It doesn't allow direct access to someone's memories like you clan's ability. We can only record what is seen, not what one thinks about what they see. If someone needs to be interrogated, my clan ability wouldn't be very useful by itself." Sakura explained.

"Speaking of abilities, what was that static electricity thing you did two days ago while we were waiting for Kakashi-sensei?" Ino asked.

"You mean when that arrogant Uchiha bastard threatened you?" Naruto said with a slight growl. It was obvious that the boy was still upset about Inabi Uchiha's threat against Ino, causing said blonde to slightly blush. She had learned that Naruto was everything that most of the fangirls though Sasuke was: brave, smart, kind*...and handsome.

*[AN: Why they ever thought this about Sasuke I will never know. Some mysteries of the universe just aren't meant to be solved, I suppose...]

"Yeah, that. Did you learn your element affinity already?"

"Well..." Naruto paused in thought, figuring how to explain his abilities to the two kunoichis without confusing them. "...Yes and no. You guessed right when you said electricity. However, electricity isn't my "element", at least not the way you're thinking of. Let me ask you this: ever heard of an electric eel?"

Both girls nodded. They maybe ninja, but general studies were offered at the academy. The only difference was that only a few were actually required. Marine Biology, which both Sakura and Ino took, wasn't one of those requirements since Konoha itself wasn't very close to an ocean. In fact, it was only offered at all since the Land of Fire did have a few fishing towns along its coast. Both thought about the question for a second before their eyes widened slightly.

"You mean to tell me that you can..." Sakura began.

"...use electricity naturally? Yes, I can. It is my kekkei genkai. I don't need hand seals to use it and it doesn't drain my chakra at all. As you may have already guessed, I can actually call down a lightning strike. That particular attack is called "Thunder Crashdown Jutsu"." Naruto explained.

"A Jutsu? I thought that you didn't have to use chakra with your ability." Ino said, slightly confused.

"Keyword: I don't have to use chakra. However, mixing chakra in with it does make my abilities stronger in power. However, with that particular jutsu, I have to "lock in" to my opponent in order to actually hit them with it. Obviously trying to hit a fast moving target is out of the question, so I normally use that jutsu to either take someone by complete surprise or use it as a major preemptive strike."

"So that's what Inabi was complaining about to the council." came a voice from behind them. Ino and Sakura whirled around to see Kakashi Hatake, aka, the copy ninja, eye-smile at them.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Both girls shouted at the same time. Naruto simply shook his head. _'I'll be shocked if his photo isn't next to the term 'late' in the dictionary by the end of the decade.'_

"Sorry I'm late. A dragon blocked my path to my bathroom this mourning, so I had to go downtown to take a shower before getting lost on the road of life." Kakashi eye-smiled.

(Ino) "..."

(Sakura) "..."

(Naruto – deadpanned in a joking manner) "...Let me guess, it was a Norwegian Ridgeback, wasn't it?"

"How did you know, Naruto?" Kakashi asked in mock surprise, mostly to annoy his female students.

"You were reading 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' yesterday." Naruto pointed out.

"Oh..." Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. While Kakashi still read smut, He only read it in private nowadays. It turns out that Kakashi just liked to read, period. Some of the readings from Cole's world especially managed to get his attention.

"Anyway, it's time to test you on whether you are fit enough to become genin under my command. Normally, I would give you the bell test just like most of the other jonin-senseis do, but I've decided that this test will be a little different from the norm." Ino and Sakura raised an eyebrow at this. What the hell was the bell test?

On que, Naruto spoke up on that, "That test is standard for a reason, sensei..." Kakashi's eyes widened at that statement. _'He knows the secret behind that? How? Revealing that information to students who have yet to take the test is considered grounds for possible demotion...'_

Sensing the copy ninja's surprise that the boy knew about the test, Naruto decided to put his nerves at ease, "Calm down, Kakashi-sensei. Nobody told me and I haven't told anyone either. I observed a few of those tests for the past year. Once I saw certain teams pass and fail, I understood the meaning behind the tests." Kakashi honestly wanted to say that he was shocked, but then again, this was Naruto he was talking about. The boy's stealth capabilities were actually better than all genin, chunin, and even some jonin. It also helped that the boy is a genius – a fact that very few people are aware of by design. It did explain why he was able to pull some of the pranks that he did when he was younger.

"Huh? What are talking about, Naruto-kun? What's the point of the 'bell test' that Kakashi-sensei is talking about?" Ino asked.

Naruto shook his head, "Sorry Ino-chan, but once you become a ninja, we're not allowed to mention the purpose behind those kinds of tests in front of anyone who haven't taken the test yet." Both girls mouthed 'oh', completely understanding that doing such a thing could rob future genin of learning certain things for themselves.

"That's correct, Naruto. Now then, the test I'm going to give you three is this..." at this, Kakashi takes out a scroll with the kanji for 'Seven' from his jonin vest breast pocket and tosses it to them. "This scroll is the first of three in this test. Each scroll contains a clue as to where the next scroll is located and how to get access to it. Your goal is simple: get all three scrolls and come to my favorite restaurant by 4 PM in order to pass."

"Sensei, we don't know what your favorite restaurant is." Ino pointed out.

"Ah ah ah, that would be telling. You'll just have to find that information on your own, if you don't know it already." Kakashi said, waging a finger. He chuckled a little when Ino gave a cute pout. Naruto had to lower his head lest Ino see him trying not to laugh and potentially yell at him.

"Are there any rules, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, successfully hiding her amusement of her best friend not getting the information that she wanted.

"You may not tell anyone else about what you are doing nor can you torture anyone for what you need. Other than that, you are free to complete this test however you can." All three genin nodded in understanding.

"One more thing before you start: Be sure to look underneath the underneath. Good luck." Kakashi smiled before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

After a few seconds of silence, Naruto broke the silence, wanting to get started. "Alright...let's see what our first scrolls says..." the blond suggested as he unrolls the scroll to read their first clue.


	7. Chapter 7  The Test, Part 2

**Thanks to everyone who have been reading so far, whether you posted or not. I hope you like what you see so far.**

**DestroyerDRT:** Yes, this is a Naru/Saku/Ino story. It's still in part 1, but there will be a time skip. However, it may not be the same as canon. I haven't totally decided on that course of action just yet.

**Raw666:** I can see where you're coming from. Sasuke does seem to act a bit stupid, but he actually isn't. It's just that he believes that Naruto isn't very smart due to the Uchiha clan not knowing Naruto on a personal level. Keep in mind that outside of his friends and family, Naruto seems like a goofball that is too hyper to really pay attention to what is going on around him. His classmates (that didn't know him) are know only beginning to realize that there maybe more to him than meets the eye.

While the hokage and some important ninja know about the traitorous tendencies of the Uchiha clan, the civilians know nothing of it and in fact, still look up to them. Getting rid of the Uchiha clan now, could cause the civilians to rebel and cause a village wide civil war. You need civilians for a village to survive since they make up the majority. Besides, the Uchiha clan won't move forward with something of that nature until they deal with some major issues, the Uchiwa clan to name one...

**.nightmare:** Actually, one of my potential fics has Genji and the rest of the getbackers gang involved, but I've decided to finish my first fic before attempting to do multiple fics at once. I've seen too many people bog themselves down with fics and not finish them. I don't want to join that list if I can help it. That said, a few ideas will be used, and there is a small possibility of a getbackers crossover, but **_IF_** I go that route, I have to make it at least somewhat believable and it will be small. I'm not just going to have characters pop in with no explanation at some point.

**OutlawKnight:** Thank you for correcting me on that. I wasn't sure if I was correct on that. At some point, I plan on going back through all of the chapters (so far) and making small corrections such as that.

**Moldock:** Both. There are some that believe that he won't be able to keep Kyubi under control. Thankfully, these villagers can eventually be convinced that Naruto isn't such a bad person and make up about 85% of the village. The rest of the 15%, however, believe he is the Kyubi itself. They will be near impossible to convince...

**A note to anyone who read this before Thursday:**_** Sorry about the spelling errors. One of the things that I need to work on is proof reading my work. It's obvious that I didn't do that well enough and I apologize for that. There might be a couple of errors still present, but I tried to get out as many as possible. Again, sorry for the poor proof reading.**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or InFamous...obviously I didn't win the lottery.  
_**

**Chapter 7: The Test – Part 2**

_This scroll you hold is only the first of three scrolls that I have placed throughout the village. I won't tell you how to get them outside the lone clue that is provided in each. That is up to you. Anyway, on to your first clue:_

_**My location is the first place you would look if you wanted to see what "power" is. You also must have a little bit of it yourself if you want to claim me.**_

_It won't be easy, but If you're good enough, you'll figure it out. Good Luck._

_Kakashi_

The three genin looked at the note with a somewhat skeptical look.

"What the hell is this, a scavenger hunt? Kakashi-sensei must be using this test to find some time to read some more..." Naruto complained. Both Sakura and Ino quietly agreed. It was one thing to test genin on their fighting ability as a test. A scavenger hunt, on the other hand, just seemed downright lazy.

"**Stop wasting time complaining about it and get a move on, kit. You only have so much time...and before you ask, no, I won't help you on this. This is something the three of you have to do on your own."** Kyubi voiced.

"_...oh, alright...but can't have just one little-"_

"**Kit..."** Kyubi warned, slightly annoyed. Naruto mentally pouted and turned his attention back to the "test".

"Naruto-kun? Are you ok?" Ino asked after seeing Naruto slightly annoyed at something.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but Kyubi-chan said this is something we have to solve ourselves."

The two kunoichi slowly nodded. More help would be nice, but even they knew that in the ninja world, more info wasn't always readily available. Sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

"Ok, it's obvious that the key word here is "power". The only question is, what KIND of power does it mean and WHERE can we find this power?" Naruto muttered, somewhat thinking out loud.

"Well...I don't think he means "ability" in general. All three of us have that in some form or another." Ino added.

The three genin walked through the village, trying to get an idea of what the scroll meant by "power". The three had quickly ruled out anything to do with other shinobi. Besides, they were quite certain that their sensei would never subject them to having to watch Maito Gai's "power of youth", even if by accident. All three shivered at that. _'No way in hell am I going to witness that...whatever they do.' _Was the mindset of the three genin.

About an hour and a half later, team 7 was starting to get frustrated...well, Naruto and Ino anyway. Sakura seemed to be in thinking mode since they had left the training grounds. Just as Ino was about to shout out her frustration, the three of them heard loud arguing from inside one of the houses they were passing by.

"Izimo, you moron! You forgot to pay the electric bill again! Now we don't have any power!"

"But dear-"

"Shut up! Don't you 'dear' me! This is all your fault, you slow-ass moron!"

Naruto's head shot up so fast, you would have thought he had gotten whiplash.

"...That's it!" the blond jinchuriki shouted, startling both Ino and Sakura.

"That's what?" Ino asked.

"I think I know where we need to go. Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, follow me!" Naruto ordered as he jumped to the top of the building and took off in a seemingly random direction. The two kunoichi looked at each other for a moment, but shrugged and took off after their male teammate. It didn't take long for them to reach their destination and when they did, both Sakura and Ino gave the blond a confused look while Naruto simply smirked.

Standing in front of them was the Konoha electrical power plant. The idea was Cole's, but it was Orochimaru's expertise in computers that made the idea a reality. Unlike the internet, which is open to most in the ninja world, the power plant used a closed system to prevent someone from outside the plant to take control of it. The security is handled mainly by Jiraiya, who set up numerous security seals to deal with unauthorized intruders.

While not a seal expert, Ino noticed the security measures that were in place with a worried look. "Naruto-kun...I don't like this. I recognize some of these seals...and they are quite nasty towards people who trip them."

Sakura didn't say anything, but here expression mirrored her best friend's. They expected Naruto to at least be slightly stumped, but were surprised to see that the smirk hadn't left his face.

"Yeah, they are pretty bad to those who activate them..." Naruto replied. "...but I'm familiar with ALL of the security measures. Hell, a few of them were my idea, but that isn't the reason I'm not worried."

"Then why aren't you worried?" Sakura asked, wondering how the boy could be so calm when so many traps were sitting in front of them.

As if to answer the pinkette's question, Naruto raised his hand towards a security panel that was built into the side of the wall with what looked to be a bluish domed-shaped lens and shot a small amount of electricity into it. A second later, the red light next to the panel turned green, followed by the security gate opening.

Ino and Sakura stood in place with their jaws open as Naruto turned back towards them, chuckling at the looks on their faces. "The plant recognizes my electrical signature and sees me as a part-time employee. Now then, shall we?"

The two kunoichi collected themselves and nodded. After passing the main gate, Naruto lead them to a door that read "Information Center" and went right on in. Unlike a lot of places they had been in, the hallway they were walking down looked much more advanced. The walls were made up of large stainless steel panels while the floor was made of white marble. There were lights embedded ceiling and the floor along the sides of the wall, each with a think layer of glass covering them. The doors weren't the typical ones, either. These doors slide open and blended into the wall well, since they too, were stainless steel.

"What exactly are we looking for Naruto-kun?" came Ino's voice.

Naruto was about to answer, but to his surprise somewhat, Sakura beat him to it. "If I'm not mistaken, we should be looking for the security room, piggy. If Kakashi-sensei did put one of the scrolls here, then he either had to break in here, or he had to check in with a security card if that slot we saw next to the panel Naruto-kun shot was any indication. Either way, the cameras would have seen him."

"Very good, Sakura-chan. Not many people other than Ino-chan and Shikamaru would have thought that far outside of the box. Chances are that if you had ended up on the teme's team, you would have to do ALL of the thinking." Naruto praised, causing Sakura to blush.

"I gotta agree with Naruto-kun, forehead. Those idiots except Kiba won't be able to put together a 12-piece jigsaw puzzle without someone like you." Ino added.

"Kiba should be smart enough to help them." Sakura countered, but Naruto shook his head.

"That maybe true, but they'll be too arrogant and too stupid to listen to him. Hopefully, he'll make chunin quick enough so he can officially request a transfer from that team. I'd rather he not be on that team any longer than he has to be." Naruto slightly scowled. While he was happy with his teammates, he felt awful for Kiba. He was going to have to put up with a team that will more than likely try to undermine his progress towards becoming a top shinobi.

They continued down the corridor, while on the lookout for the desired door. Finally after what seemed like hours (but was actually only 30 minutes), team 7 spotted the door they were looking for, which read 'Power Plant Security Center'. The door normally required a keycard, but it also had the same electrical panel with the domed lens that they saw when they first arrived. Naruto shot a small bolt into the panel, granting them access. Once inside, Naruto made a beeline straight for the security camera recording system. After a few minutes of looking and thinking, he turned to his kunoichi teammates with a serious expression. It was clear to them that he was in command mode.

"Judging by the fact that Kakashi-sensei admitted that he wanted to do something different and the fact that he was at the meeting yesterday means that at some point today, he gained access to the plant and placed the scroll somewhere inside here. There are three main parts to the plant: the information center–which is where we are now, the research center, and the main building. We're going to take tapes from these sectors and go back over them."

"Ino, I want you to look over the tapes regarding the information center. Sakura, you'll take the research center. I'll handle the main building. Simply fast-forward through each tape until you see anyone who looks suspicious. You have your assignments; get to it – and remember, time is of the essence." Naruto commanded.

"Yes, Naruto-shushou!"[1] both girls saluted. On the outside, they were as serious as he was. What they were thinking, however, was quite different. _'Wow...Naruto-kun is actually kind of sexy when he's serious...'_

Deciding to put those thoughts aside for the time being, they got to work reviewing the security tapes.

XXXXX

**Hokage's Office**

"Hmm...quite interesting." the sandaime mused as he, Kakashi, Cole, and the Sannin looked on, viewing team 7's progress through Sarutobi's crystal ball.

Kakashi nodded, "I agree. Two days ago, those two were hesitant to even be near Naruto. Now, they seem to not only respect him, but they also seem to..."

"...like him." Tsunade finished.

"The boy's not even 14 and he's already on the verge of–" Jiraiya began, but stopped cold when he saw Tsunade glare at him as if to say, 'Finish that sentence and you die'. The pervert wisely closed his mouth and continued to watch his godson and his team's progress.

"That Sakura girl is smarter than people give her credit for." Orochimaru commented. "Even a few jonin wouldn't have thought of that right away."

"If nothing else, their teamwork is far and away the best I've seen so far." Sarutobi smiled.

"Yeah, and Naruto's already showing leadership qualities." Cole spoke up. _'Lady Kushina...if only you were here to see him. You would be so proud. If you're out there somewhere, maybe you'll get to see him in action for yourself someday...'_

XXXXX

**Konoha Power Plant – Security Center, 1 Hour later**

"Naruto, Sakura, I think I found something!" Ino said excitedly.

"What've you got, Ino?" Naruto peered over her shoulder. Sakura also stopped what she was doing and rolled her chair up next to Ino's.

"Take a look at this..." Ino pointed to the paused image. On the screen was a man who was slightly above average-height and had on a standard power plant uniform along with a hard hat. He was in the process of leaving a room. Sakura was about to ask why the man on screen was so interesting when Ino pointed to three things on the man:

One, the small amount of hair sticking out of his hard hat was a light color – almost white...maybe silver; Two, his left eye seemed to be covered up by something; and three, the one clue that sealed the deal, were two books sticking out of his pockets: a familiar orange book and a book titled, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

"It's him..." Sakura deadpanned. "That's Kakashi-sensei."

"Indeed," Naruto agreed. "There aren't many shinobis with that kind of hair color, and then there's the Harry Potter book...and _that _book. Good work, Ino-chan." The blond girl blushed slightly from the praise.

**Hokage's Office**

If Kakashi didn't have a mask on, you would see his mouth hanging open in surprise. _'You gotta be kidding me. __That's__ how they found me?'_

Everyone in the room had a smirk on their face – except Orochimaru. He did something most don't ever seem him do: he burst out laughing. The snake sannin had told him at one time that he wasn't the ideal person for an undercover operation. When asked why, Orochimaru simply told him, _"All they have to do is look for a guy with with silver hair with a covered left eye and search him for porn and/or a Harry Potter Novel."_

Kakashi looked at Jiraiya, but the toad sannin shook his head. "Don't look at me, Kakashi. I seal all of my books, thank you. Not even my Tom Clancy Novels sit out in the open."

Kakashi hung his head, crying anime tears while saying some that sounded like 'Traitor'.

**Konoha Power Plant**

"Ino, zoom in on that door so we can get the room number off of it."

Ino double-tapped the touch-screen monitor, causing the screen to zoom in on a number that was on the door. "010351..." Ino read. Naruto was about to tell them where door was, but saw that Sakura looked slightly down. He knew that look. It was the look you had when you felt like you were dead weight. Naruto knew good and well that Sakura was not dead weight, but he had an idea that might give her some more confidence.

"Sakura-chan, whenever I do come here, I only come to this room...and to be honest, I don't even know what's in half of these rooms." Naruto began. It was true – he normally worked in the main building. He rarely ever came into the info building even if he did know generally know where the door was located, but his pink-haired teammate didn't need to know that last part. "By any chance, do any...'buildings' in the mind pool realm have the same kind of numbering system?"

Sakura was somewhat surprised that he was asking for her help, but she quickly pushed that aside and began to think with determination. She was not going to let her teammates down, especially Naruto. "Now that you mention it, Naruto-kun...they do. In fact, every building except the Cerebral Tower has that kind of numbering. If I'm not too much mistaken, the first two numbers signify the building or area, the second set of numbers refer to the sector, and any numbers that remain after that refer to the room number."

Sakura then moved slightly closer to the monitor. Naruto, sensing that the pinkette wasn't finished, remained quite but interested. "Piggy, can you do me a favor and zoom out so that we can get a look at the surrounding doors?"

"Sure thing forehead, but why?"

"I want to see the pattern."

"Pattern?"

"Yes. I want to see what numbers are on the next two doors." Sakura answered. Ino mouthed "O" before doing what Sakura asked.

"Let's see...the door next to the one we just viewed is 010353. The one next to that one iiiisss...010355." Ino said, reading off the door numbers.

"I thought so. Naruto-kun, the sector we are currently in only has doors on one side, which means that the doors aren't going to skip any numbers, odd or even. That corridor we are currently looking at has doors on each side of the hall. Also, if I remember correctly, the second set of numbers to the room we are currently in is 02 – sector 2. The door we are looking for is in the sector next to this one – sector 3." Sakura finished.

Ino had a look of surprise on her face, but Naruto had a knowing grin on his face. Sakura was about to ask why he was smiling like that when he spoke up. "As expected, Sakura-chan. Great job." Sakura blushed from the praise.

"Ok, ladies...shall we?" Naruto grinned. Both girls also grinned and gave nods of their own as they exited the security room and headed down the corridor. After a few minutes, they saw a sign that read, { - to sector 4 | to sector 3 - }. The three genin immediately took off down the corridor to the right. It didn't take them long to get to the room they were looking for – 010351.

Naruto immediately held up his hand, signaling the two kunoichi to hold their position. Naruto then pointed towards the left and right side of the door. Sakura and Ino nodded in understanding before drawing kunais and pressing their backs to the wall beside the door. Naruto drew his own kunai and slowly held up his hand and shot a bolt into the lens on the door.

**Hokage's Office**

"Kakashi, did you actually set any traps?" the hokage asked.

"No, Hokage-sama. I was planning on assessing their battle tactics and formations if they made genin." Kakashi answered before giving an eye smile. "However, it seems that assessment is no longer necessary."

"I agree. There are chunin that aren't this good. Assuming that they pass this test, they might be the only genin squad I would give a C-rank to right away...maybe even a B-rank in the event of an emergency."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at that, but the others didn't seem to be all that surprised.

"Lord Hokage's got a point, Kakashi. Quite frankly, Naruto could possibly beat me if I even got slightly careless. The fact that those two kunoichi are better than most genin would almost ensure that I would lose if they got involved." Cole admitted.

Sarutobi and Kakashi's eyes widen slightly upon hearing that. Cole McGrath was NOT a pushover by any means. In fact, most bingo books warn anyone who aren't jonin to avoid fighting him whenever possible. Still, even jonin were warned to approach him with extreme caution.

Kakashi had one thought on his mind, _'I might very well have the best genin team in the history of Konoha...'_

**Konoha Power Plant**

As the door opened, Ino and Sakura, followed by Naruto, rushed into the room. After a moment of looking around and satisfied that the room was trap-free, they put away their kunai.

The room they were in was nothing more than a storage room filled with things such as computer parts, spare lightning rods, and so on. Problem was, there was no scroll.

"You think Kakashi-sensei did this to throw us off the trail?" Ino asked.

"Not likely. For one thing, we are actually way ahead of schedule. It's only 11:03 am at the moment. We still have about five hours left. I noticed a few clues on our way here, but they weren't very obvious. Let's continue looking." Naruto suggested. Sakura and Ino nodded and began to go through the storage room boxes.

As they were doing so, Naruto noticed something a little odd – the lights were on, but were very dim – almost as if someone tried to turn off the lights upon leaving, but didn't move the switch all the way to the 'off' position. One of the plant's policies was to turn off all lights in rooms that weren't in use in order to save power. Sakura was looking through a box of old manuals when her gaze landed on Naruto.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto gestured her to wait a moment as he walked over to the light switch and raised it to maximum illumination. The three ninja could now clearly see every part of the storage room.

"While that does help Naruto-kun, I still don't see any sign of the scroll." Ino said.

The blond jinchuriki was about to say something when he looked down slightly and noticed that the floor directly below the light wasn't as illuminated as the rest of the room. This caused him to look up for a moment...and smile.

"Girls...I think we found it."

Inside the glass cover of the light, was a silhouette of a cylinder-shaped object.

**Hokage's Office**

Kakashi could only stare at the crystal ball in awe. It had only been around 50 minutes since they had entered the power plant and they had already found the first of the two scrolls he hid.

"In all honesty Hokage-sama, I wasn't expecting them to find the scroll that fast. They just might break the record for fastest completed genin exam." Kakashi admitted, although he also had to admit that he hoped that they would pass. It's not that he didn't want a genin squad; he just didn't want a genin squad that was incompetent. _'Unlike a certain squad with a certain cheating genin, although I would take Kiba as an apprentice if I was allowed to. He actually has potential.'_

"Not bad. Not bad at all." Sarutobi grinned.

"The gaki sure knows how to impress." Jiraiya agreed.

"Well what did you expect, pervert? This is our little Naru-chan that we're talking about." Tsunade said.

"I agree with Tsunade, Jiraiya. We did train him after all. It also helps that he's got two of the best kunoichi potentials in the academy." Orochimaru added.

"Heh, they aren't even full genin yet and they're already kickin' ass." Cole smirked.

It was now obvious to everyone in the room that team 7 and the word 'incompetent' didn't even belong in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence.

**Konoha Power Plant**

The three genin huddled and opened the scroll to get the clue to finding the final scroll.

_Congrats on finding this scroll. Ino and Sakura, I can imagine that by now, you at least know about Naruto's "special" ability. Rather interesting, isn't it? Anyway, on to your next clue:_

_**I've asked a good friend to hide this scroll for me. You won't be able to find the scroll on your own...even if it does probably smell like burnt plant.**_

_Good luck, my cute little genin potentials._

_Kakashi (eye-smiling while holding up a peace sign)_

The three genin continued to stare at the scroll for a few seconds before finally deciding to roll it up again and store it away as they exited the power plant.

"Even if it smells like burnt plant..." Naruto repeated out loud, mostly to himself. He turned to Ino to see what she made of the clue, but even she looked a bit stumped although he could tell that she wasn't going to give up on trying to figure it out. He turned his attention to Sakura, who had her arms crossed with her head slightly tilted down and her eyes closed.

"Naruto-kun...you should leave her alone for now." Ino whispered to him.

Naruto gave Ino a concerned look and asked, "Is she ok?"

"Oh she's fine. It's just that whenever she's doing any serious thinking, she goes into that pose."

"...you mean like what Shikamaru does when he's coming up with a strategy?"

"Yes. She may have access to the mind pool, but her mom told me that even among the Haruno clan, she's a prodigy." Ino explained. "As long as I've know forehead, she's had a natural curiosity for knowledge of any kind. Granted, some mad men throughout history were like that, but what separates her from them is the fact that she has enough moral sense not to misuse information. She may not be exactly like Shikamaru, but she is a genius, albeit a closet one. Shikamaru specializes in strategy. Sakura specializes in knowledge in general."

"She's a walking library." Naruto summed up.

"Exactly, Naruto-kun." Ino said.

The blondes continued to talk a bit more until they noticed that Sakura had come out of her pose and was now looking at them.

"Guys...I believe I've solved at least part of our riddle."

Both blondes gave Sakura their full attention, motioning for her to continue. "Little trivia for you: Ever heard of a plant called 'nicotiana'?" she asked them like a teacher would ask a classroom of students.

"...I've heard the name before, but I can't quite place it." Ino responded.

"Isn't that the plant that's also called a tabacco plant, Sakura-chan?" Naruto answered her with a question of his own. Sakura nodded, not showing her slight surprise of how Naruto knew that. _'How the hell did I ever believe him to be stupid?'_

"So that means..." Naruto started.

"Yeah...whoever Kakashi-sensei trusted with hiding our next scroll is someone who smokes." Sakura finished. "The only thing left to figure out is who does sensei know well of enough and is also a smoker?"

"Wouldn't the hokage fit that description, forehead?" Ino suggested. Sakura's eyes brightened at her best friend's suggestion and was about to praise her before Naruto stopped her with a shake of his head.

"Sorry to say Ino-chan, but that isn't possible." he said.

"Why not? The hokage smokes with a pipe and from what I've heard, our sensei is one of the hokage's most trusted shinobi." Ino argued.

"Yes, all of that's true."

"Then what's the problem?"

Naruto looked straight at Ino with a seriousness rarely seen from him. "...because when he was not in a meeting, which was most of the day yesterday, he was sitting in on Mizuki-teme's...interrogation."

"Naruto-kun? What exactly did Mizuki-sensei do to get himself removed from our military corps?" Ino asked, suddenly remembering what Iruka said during their team placements.

"...That bastard tried to take the forbidden scroll and hand it over to an 'unnamed' party. He betrayed our village." Naruto answered in a ice-cold tone. Ino shivered slightly upon hearing that tone, but she didn't blame Naruto at all. She turned to see what Sakura's reaction was...and was shocked to find her with a cold look on her face as well.

"Not just that, I saw the footage of what that bastard did to you in the academy, Naruto-kun. He's nothing but garbage...and when they're finished with him, they are going to take him out to the curb like the trash that he is." Sakura said in a cold tone of her own.

"**Well, damn. I didn't think pinky could be so vengeful. She really does care for you if she gets that upset over what that thundercat wannabe did." **Kyubi chimed in.

'Me neither...but I'm not complaining.' Naruto answered her.

Deciding to get back to the task at hand, Naruto turns his attention back towards his female teammates, "Is there anyone else we know that smokes?"

Ino and Sakura shook their heads. Naruto lightly cursed as he began mentally going through a list of people that he had seen smoking, with Ino and Sakura doing the same. As they walked through the village, they saw three familiar figures walking towards them. Naruto smiled when he recognized who the three were.

"Hey Hinata-chan, Shikamaru, Choji! How are you guys holding up?" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

"Hey, Naruto!" Choji greeted back, while munching on a bag of chips.

"Hey Naruto." Shikamaru said, giving him a lazy wave.

"Hello, nii-san." Hinata replied, happy to see him. Her gaze turned to both Sakura and Ino and hardened. "Is everything going ok for you?" she continued, not fully trusting his two female teammates. Both looked down a bit in shame, knowing why Hinata was skeptical of them.

"Calm down, Hinata. You can trust them. If anything, they've been excellent teammates." Naruto spoke up. Hinata was still a bit cautious, but decided not to ask questions for now.

"What are you guys doing anyway?" Choji asked.

"We're...looking for someone." Naruto answered, albeit hesitantly. He wasn't sure if they were allowed to even mention the test to others, so he decided to play it safe and not reveil that information. On an actual mission, revealing certain info to the wrong person could get you killed.

"We are, too. Have you seen our sensei, nii-san?" Hinata asked.

"No, I don't think so, nee-chan. Who is he and what does he look like?"

"Well, he has a beard like hokage-sama, he wears a standard jonin uniform..." Hinata listed off.

"-and he smells like cigarettes. Man, the smell is troublesome." Shikamaru lazily complained.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino's heads snapped towards the lazy Nara so fast they almost got whiplash. Shikamaru noticed that he had just gotten the attention of team 7 and gave them a look that seemed to say, 'What did I say this time?'

"Your sensei, Shikamaru...what's his name?" Naruto asked.

"His name is Asuma. Asuma Sarutobi." Shika answered, not quite sure why team 7 was suddenly interested in their sensei.

"...Was he with a man with silver hair, a mask, and his left eye covered by his headband?" Sakura spoke up for the first time.

Shikamaru was silent, obviously going through his memory banks. After a moment, his eyes seemed to indicate that he had found who Naruto maybe talking about. "Now that you mentioned it, I do remember seeing someone like that this mourning on the way to our team meeting. They seemed to be talking about something, but we weren't close enough to hear."

"Guys..." Hinata spoke up. "I don't know if it's real important, but I did see the person you described handing sensei something. I think it was a scroll of some kind..."

Naruto's eyes widened upon hearing this. _'THAT'S who it is! It all makes sense! Asuma Sarutobi is not only a fellow jonin like Kakashi-sensei, he also smokes and is related to jiji, who also smokes. That's one half of the puzzle solved...now all that's left to do is find him and get him to tell us where he hid the scroll.'_

"Guys, we got to get going. When we see your sensei, well tell you where he is. Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, let's get to it!" Naruto said, taking off towards the hokage tower, hoping to get the hokage to tell them where his son was. Sakura immediately followed after him. Ino, however, paused and turned to Shikamaru.

"Shika...Choji?" she asked in a soft voice. The lazy boy turned to her and was about to ask what she wanted when he saw the look in her eyes...and then realized what she had called him.

_'She hasn't spoken to us like that since we were little...'_

"...I don't have time to explain now and I promise to later, but I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry." Ino said, holding in her tears. Ever since she had focused on Sasuke back in the academy, she hardly talked to them. She had even said some nasty things to them...and since then, she felt horrible about it.

Shikamaru stared at her for a short moment not knowing what to say. While he was upset with her for unofficially breaking off their sibling-like relationship to chase that brooding bastard, he never stopped hoping that she would eventually make an attempt to repair their friendship. _'It's been troublesome...but maybe...'_

Shikamaru gave her a small smile and gestured her to go on, silently telling her that they would talk later. Ino gave him a warm, near teary smile and took off after her teammates.

"Shikamaru-kun? What was that all about?" Hinata asked, puzzled by the whole exchange.

While Hinata was confused, Choji on the other hand, wasn't, and gave a small smile of his own. "I think I know..." the Akimichi said softly.

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed. "I believe we just got our little sister back, big man."

_**Well, that ends part 2. I know that there hasn't been a lot of fighting in this story so far, but trust me...that will change in the next chapter. Let's just say that Asuma isn't just going to tell them where he hid the scroll just like that. Hope you guys like what you see so far. Read and review please, and thank you!**_

[1] **Shushou** – (team) Captain


	8. Chapter 8 The Test, Conclusion

**Hey guys! I know that it's been awhile, so I apologize. Between helping my sister raise two nieces (because the father is a deadbeat and has dropped off the face of the damn earth), a job, and slight writer's block, it got a bit hard to concentrate. Still, I will continue doing the stories, mainly because I like doing it.**

**_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto or InFamous.**

**Chapter 8 – The Test, Conclusion**

The three genin continued to make their way to the hokage tower, hoping to get a lead on where their target was. While they were running and jumping across the top of the buildings, Ino had to wonder if going to the hokage was the right course of action.

"Naruto-kun, why are we headed towards the tower? I honestly don't think that the hokage is going to help us if he's in on it." Ino asked.

"I know, but that's not the reason we're going to the hokage tower." Naruto answered.

Before Ino could ask another question, Sakura answered her yet-to-be-asked question, "We're going there to get some information on our own, piggy. While there are rooms with computer terminals or even old fashioned file cabinets, it also has something a bit more...exclusive to us Harunos. Somewhere in the tower, is a room with one of my clan's mind pool access crystals."

"Correct, Sakura-chan." Naruto knew that asking for the hokage's help would be out of the question, so he decided that they would do this the old fashioned way: sneak into the restricted room and get the info themselves.

Once they reached the tower, Ino and Sakura were about to go through the main entrance when Naruto stopped them. "Hold it. Walking through the front door in this situation may not be the best of ideas. If we're seen inside the hallway without going to see jiji, people will get suspicious. It's better just sneak in through one of the windows and remain hidden as much as possible."

"Not a bad plan whiskers, but what about the ANBU in the tower? Surely, they'll know if someone gains access to the room we're looking for..." Ino worried. Her concerns were put to rest when Naruto gave her and Sakura a confident grin. "Yeah, there are ANBU in here, but the only ANBU that are in the tower are guarding jiji...and they don't go anywhere unless instructed to by the old man. The security during non-war time is made up of mostly chunin and a few high level genin. Anyway, Sakura-chan, do you remember where that room was located?"

Sakura was silent in thought for a moment. It had been awhile since she had been to the room that housed one of her clan's crystal mind gates, but she still remembered where it was located. The only problem was that she didn't know how well-protected it was. She was too young to notice any security measures at the time. "If I remember correctly, it should be on the 4th floor on the east side of the tower."

"We need to get in, have Sakura-chan link up to the towers security cameras and microphones to see when Asuma-sensei arrived and left the tower and where he was headed. This needs to be done as quickly as possible since, _A_, security may start to catch on to us, and _B_, we may lose Asuma-sensei. Now, let's get to it." Naruto commanded as both girls gave him a quick 'yes, shushou' and followed him up the tower wall, making sure nobody saw them.

XXXXX

"So, they are in the tower as we speak..." the sandaime mused.

"I'll admit that they have guts for doing something like this. Still, we know they're in the tower now, so I guess I better alert the guards..." Kakashi said, about to flare his chakra a bit to summon one of the chunin, but the hokage held up a hand, indicating for him to stop.

"No, Kakashi. The only reason we even know is because of my crystal ball we are currently using. Keep in mind that this is a one-of-a-kind tool that only I can use and isn't found anywhere else in the shinobi world. There are cameras all over the place and they've managed to avoid them, so as far as I'm concerned, they haven't even been spotted. Let them try their hand at this."

"I concur with sensei," Orochimaru agreed. "If you are going by that, then all of us would have been caught at some point since that crystal ball can see everything that goes on in Konoha..." Orochimaru then glanced at his two sannin teammates with a knowing grin.

At this, Tsunade and – surprisingly enough – Jiraiya, blushed. While Cole seemed slightly confused by the two sannin's reactions, Sarutobi simply smirked along with his student.

"...Isn't that right?" the snake sannin teased towards his teammates. He expected Tsunade to deny it, but to everyone's surprise...

"Oh alright, you caught us." the slug princess admitted, turning a bright red.

"H-Hime! What're you doing?" Jiraiya stammered.

"Oh pipe down, ero-kun. Those two probably found out about us going to dinner a few times with that damn peep ball of sensei's." Tsunade said, glaring at Sarutobi.

"Wait, so you mean that Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya are actually dating?" Cole asked, slightly stunned. Tsunade and Jiraiya were silent for a moment before giving each other a look. Sarutobi's eyes narrowed when he saw his two students gave each other a small, but mischievous grin.

"Not anymore..." Jiraiya answered, smirking. That's when both sannin held up their hands – that's when rings appeared on their fingers. Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Cole's eyes where wider than dinner plates.

"Y-You mean?" Kakashi stammered.

"Yep...we're married." Tsunade finished with a smirk of her own.

While Kakashi and Cole continued to stare like idiots, Sarutobi turned to Orochimaru...who suddenly found the old hokage's collection of small vases interesting.

"You knew, didn't you?" the old man accused, although it wasn't a reprimanding tone at all.

"Why sensei, whatever do you mean?" Orochimaru chirped.

While all this was going on, nobody noticed that a certain genin team had walked into a room minutes earlier, causing the crystal ball to blank out.

XXXXX

Sakura had been linked to the hokage tower's surveillance system via mind pool for only a few minutes, but her inner self had managed to get access to the hokage's office and was showing her live footage. The pinkette simply shook her head in amusement upon seeing what her inner self had showed her, causing her two teammates to give her a confused look.

"What is it, forehead? What do you see?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan, you looked like you just witnessed someone getting pranked." Naruto added.

"...That's one way of putting it, foxy, piggy." Sakura grinned. "I'll tell you later, guys. We still have work to do."

"She's right. As tempting as it is to see who got punked, we need to pass this exam first. Do you have anything on Asuma Sarutobi yet, Sakura-chan?" Naruto inquired.

"My inner is sending me one video at a time, so I haven't reviewed everything yet, but one of the videos that I did see had him entering the tower approximately an hour ago..." Sakura paused as she continued to wait for more info from her inner self. After a moment, Sakura's eyes lit up.

"Here we go. Asuma-sensei entered the hokage's office...he just gave a report to hokage-sama about his genin team...wait..."

"What, forehead?"

"Interesting...he keeps looking at Kurenai Yuhi, Konoha's genjutsu mistress and newly promoted jonin...I think he's got a thing for her." Sakura smirked, her eyes still closed.

"Anything else?" Naruto asked.

"Okayyyy... both of them left the hokage's office...they stopped in the hallway and are talking...oh my...rather direct, isn't he?"

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto gave her a confused look.

"...I know where Asuma is."

"Where?" both blonds asked.

"They went a restaurant called the "Italian Leaf"."

"...'they'?" Ino raised an eyebrow. "You mean Asuma-san and Kurenai-san are..."

"...On a date, piggy!" Sakura finished, with a hint of excitement.

"Great job, Sakura-chan. Now then, let's get out of here before someone finds out we're here." Naruto said as they quickly and quietly exited the room they were in.

_**'That was rather interesting. I've heard some things about Kurenai Yuhi, one of them being that she was known by a lot of males as the 'Ice Queen of Konoha'. I didn't think Asuma-san had a chance at getting a date with her.'** _Inner Sakura mused. Sakura mentally agreed as she proceeded to follow her teammates out of the hokage tower towards their intended target.

XXXXX

_**-Outside of the Italian Leaf, 1:26 pm-**_

"I must admit, Asuma – you weren't kidding when you said that I wouldn't regret going to lunch with you." Kurenai smiled as both jonin exited the restaurant after what she described as some of the best food she's ever had.

"I'm glad you enjoyed my company. I certainly enjoyed yours. The fact that you have such a natural talent for genjutsu is quite interesting. Won't be long before other villages put you in their foreign ninja registry as an High A to S-Class kunoichi." Asuma complemented, causing Kurenai to blush.

_'Unbelievable. Not one guy I've met has ever been this much of a gentleman to me. He was actually interested in what I had to say...and he kept his eyes up the whole time, even though I could tell that he liked what he saw. To top it all off, he thinks I have the potential to be a top kunoichi. He just might be a keeper.'_

"By the way, what do you think about the new genin?" Asuma asked.

"...I have to say that most of them are highly impressive," Kurenai answered. "Tayuya and Kin obviously work great together since they are sisters, but what surprised me was how well they also worked with Shino. He maybe quiet, but he is surprisingly friendly and puts the welfare of his teammates before himself. Not only that, but his intelligence is also impressive. I must admit that Tayuya curses more than I would like, but as long as she knows not to do that during formal situations with important people, I honestly don't care. _'Besides, it lets enemy male ninja know that she isn't some delicate flower.'_ What about yours?"

"They're interesting, to say the least. Shikamaru is a full blown genius. One of my tests was to see how well they did in shogi. Shikamaru actually beat me in less than 10 moves. Choji's physical strength is insane. Let's just say that blocking isn't going to work against him. _'My wind clone can testify to that.' _I was surprised at how well Hinata took charge during their exam. I was told that she was a bit shy."

Kurenai gave him a soft smile. "I know. She used to be a stuttering mess when I first met her. Hiashi Hyuga, her father, saw this as a weakness and shunned her for it. I was able to help her a little, but it wasn't me that got her to break out of her shell."

"If you didn't, who was it?" Asuma asked, puzzled. The red-eyed kunoichi was about to answer when she felt three chakra signatures heading their way. One of them she recognized immediately, causing her to grin.

"You're about to find out."

Asuma gave her a confused look, but when he sensed the three signatures, his eyes widened in surprise. _'Already? Kakashi said that the soonest that his genin team would catch on would have been 30 minutes before the deadline. They're 2 hours early...and I'm still on my date...damnit Kakashi, you owe me for this, big time!'_

At that moment, three figures appeared in front of the jonin pair. Asuma noticed that the girls wore pretty much the same outfits that they wore during their final year at the academy. The boy, however, had a completely different getup from what he remembered.

The boy of the team had blond spiky hair and ocean blue eyes. He wore a black underarmour heatgear shortsleeve shirt with teal piping that went from the sleeve to the neck. He had a pair of neoprene arm protecters that covered ¾ of his hands (leaving only most of his fingers uncovered) and extended all the way up to just below his elbows. He wore a pair of black and teal camo combat pants that had built-in pockets for weapons, medicine, soldier pills, and the like. Lastly he wore a pair of black shinobi boots that extend to just below his knees (A/N: Like the ones the genin sound team wore).

"Hi, Kurenai-sensei! How's life as a jonin so far?" the boy spoke in a bubbly tone, obviously happy to see the genjutsu mistress.

"Hello to you too, Naruto-kun." Kurenai smiled. Even though Naruto was ROTY of his class, it was good to know that he didn't let it go to his head as he still had his goofy, but friendly demeanor. "I'd say that life as a jonin has been pretty good so far..." she then glanced at Asuma with a knowing grin. "...with the possibility of getting even better."

The red-eyed beauty then noticed that the pink-haired girl she knew as Sakura Haruno looked star-struck. "Haruno-san, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, I fine. It's just that I can't believe that I'm standing in front of the famous genjutsu mistress. You're one the biggest reasons why I wanted to become a kunoichi in the first place." She said in awe.

"Well...thank you. I honestly must say that I'm flattered. I've heard quite a bit about you as well, Haruno-san. Some believe you to be the next great Haruno clan head." At this, Sakura blushed. While she did appreciate the complement, Sakura was secretly a believer that only hard work can make you great, not just natural talent.

"Ms. Ino Yamanaka, I've also heard good things about you too from your father. I won't lie, the fact that the civilian council favors your cousin over you proves that they have no idea how to spot potentially good leaders. Know this, almost all of the shinobi council members believe that you are the best candidate to succeed your father as clan head by a country mile." Ino, blushed as well, but was a bit more composed than her pink-haired friend and bowed.

"Thank you, Kurenai-san. Your support means a lot."

"No problem, Ino-san. So, what can we do for you?" Kurenai asked.

"Well, we're actually looking for Asuma-sensei," Naruto answered. "We need to ask him something." At this, Kurenai turned towards Asuma, who seemed to expect this.

"Ah yes, I know what you're here for." Asuma replied. "However, before I answer your question, I want you to do me a favor."

Naruto's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at this. He didn't sense any ill-intent from Asuma at all. In fact, he seemed to genuinely want to answer his question. However, the blond jinchuriki got the feeling that the jonin wasn't just going to answer their question just like that without getting something in return. Seeing that they didn't have much of a choice, Naruto gestured for the bearded jonin to continue.

"Kakashi seems to think that his genin team could be something quite special. When he mentioned who was on the team, I won't lie – I believed that you won't be any different than a lot of our other genin: potentially good, but big-headed. That said, the fact that you've completed Kakashi's tasks this fast and the fact that you all seemed to be working very well together intrigues me."

"...you want a spar with us, don't you?" Naruto concluded. Asuma slowly nodded without a reaction, but inwardly he was surprised that Naruto figured out what he wanted. He looked over towards Sakura and Ino and even they seemed to know this was coming. It was rare that genin were this perceptive since they lacked experience. _'Kakashi...maybe you weren't totally overestimating them after all. This could actually be interesting...'_

"So, what are the rules to this spar, Asuma-sensei?" Ino asked.

"Actually, why don't I decide that?" Kurenai spoke up, a hint of eagerness in her voice. Everyone looked a bit puzzled at this, but didn't see a reason to say no.

"Asuma, all you have to do is either incapacitate them or hold them off for 20 minutes." Kurenai told her date. She then turned her attention to the three genin. "You three, come with me for a moment."

This puzzled the three genin and Asuma, who suddenly got a strange feeling that his beautiful date was up to something. While she was known to most males as the Ice Queen of Konoha, Asuma was one of the few men she opened up to. One of the things that he learned was that she was a closet prankster and had a silent respect for other pranksters as well, so long as they didn't injure anyone.

Once Kurenai and the three genin were out of hearing distance, she gave them a grin that Naruto knew all too well...and grinned as well. _'Oh this is gonna be good...'_ Sakura and Ino were confused, but didn't show it.

"Alright, here's what I want you three to do. If you pull this off, dinner is on me." It only took her a moment to explain what she wanted them to do, but by the time she was finished, Naruto had a small smirk on his face. Ino was shaking her head, but was also grinning. Sakura had a look that was uncharacteristic of her: she was grinning like a maniac while rubbing her hands together like one. Kurenai recognized that kind of look. _'I think I just identified this team's trap-making specialist.'_

XXXXX

Kurenai and team 7 came back to where Asuma had been waiting. Something about Kurenai volunteering to set and oversee the sparring match slightly bothered him.

"Kurenai...what are you up to?" Asuma asked her in his calm and lazy demeanor, but with a hint of uneasiness.

Kurenai simply looked at him with her normal expression, not showing any signs of mischief. "I gave them their objective to win this spar."

"Why didn't you say it in front of me?"

"Because, besides the fact that you're a jonin, you already have a time limit advantage. If you're that worried, then knock them out quickly." Kurenai answered in a somewhat nonchalant tone. Asuma was still somewhat suspicious, but decided not to think too much about it. Besides, it was possible that she wanted to see if team 7 could do something specific – like what a mission sometimes required.

She motioned for him and team 7 to get ready as she stepped in between them. "Alright, this is only a 20-minute spar at most. It ends if the time expires, if Asuma knocks team 7 out, or team 7 fulfills the requirement that gave them. None of you are allowed to use an offensive jutsu above B-rank. Supportive and defensive B-rank and above are allowed so long as the are strictly that, support and defense. Now then...begin!" Kurenai jumped out of the way and off to the side so that she could oversee the entire spar.

(Music - _Naruto Shippuden OST– Reverse Situation)_

Naruto dashed towards Asuma with speed so fast, that the jonin almost failed to block the typhoon-style kick that was aimed at his head. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have time to think about anything else as Naruto immediately shifted in mid-air and aimed his other foot at his face, forcing the jonin to bring his other hand up to block the blow. While Asuma kept a straight face and continued to block Naruto's taijutsu attacks, his mind was saying something completely different.

_'The hell? Who is this kid, the Flash? I know some jonin that can't move this fast! Granted, I'm still fast enough to block any attack that he uses, but dodging is another story altogether...'_

Just when he was getting Naruto's timing down, he sensed an immediate danger coming from his left side. He turned just in time to see a fast moving kunai speeding towards him, thrown by Ino.

_'Damnit, no time to dodge!'_ He mentally grunted as he used the chakra knife on his left hand to activate his wind chakra blade, effectively blocking the kunai. Still, this bothered Asuma. They were only a minute into the fight and these genin had already forced him to use his chakra blades.

_'Good grief. That Yamanaka girl has a canon for an arm! The only other kunoichi with that kind of throwing power is Gai's student, TenTen. Even more interesting is that she threw that kunai from at least 40 yards away. She's going to be a major problem...'_

Then it happened. Asuma saw Naruto aim a punch at his face, but it was too close to block or dodge. He had committed the ultimate sin in the shinobi world: he let his mind wonder away from the fight.

**WHAP!**

The hit from Naruto sent Asuma flying back about 20 feet and while he managed to land on his feet with no problems, he couldn't help but think that the punch that had connected with his face hurt like hell. _'It's bad enough that this kid is fast, but to have that amount of power behind one of his strikes?'_

He looked up just in time to see Naruto speed towards him again and cursed. Most genin would have gloated upon connecting an attack on a jonin, but this kid didn't do that at all. Then suddenly, Naruto shifted laterally to his right...revealing a shower of shuriken coming at him, again, courtesy of Ino. Knowing that it was too late to dodge, Asuma quickly flashed through some hand signs.

"_**Wind Style: Multi-slash jutsu!"**_

A strong gust of wind seem to come out of nowhere and deflect every shuriken away from him.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto and Ino questioned at the same time, stunned that the jonin managed to foil their attack.

"As you may have guessed just now, I have an affinity for wind. That was just one of my more useful jutsu – great for diverting multiple weapons." Asuma answered. _'Only bad part is that it eats up a fair amount of chakra. Hopefully they don't figure that out in the next 10 minutes.'_

Kurenai was rather impressed by the move.

"He used wind, a style that is known strictly for offense, for defense...very nice. Granted, I'm not sure if that would work on some seasoned jonin, but at the very least, it could take his opponent by surprise since nobody expects a wind user to use a wind style jutsu to defend," the red-eyed beauty mused as she continued to look on. Asuma himself couldn't help but be impressed with what he was seeing so far from the two blonds.

"You two are quite good, I'll admit that. In fact, I think it's time I stopped holding back against you two. Prepare yourselves..." The smoking jonin said as he began to focus chakra to his knives. A second later, two bluish glowing blades extend outwards from the knives. Seeing this, Naruto and Ino jumped back to regroup.

"Ino-chan, I need you to keep your distance for the rest of the fight." Naruto ordered in a low voice so that Asuma couldn't hear. Ino seemed a bit put off by the order, which Naruto noticed. "I'm not saying stay out of the fight entirely. What I mean is keep out of his immediate strike range and only attack when you are absolutely sure you have an opening. Asuma-sensei is done playing around with us if those glowing chakra blades and the chakra running through his feet are any indication."

"...Hai, Naruto-shushou." Ino gave in. She didn't like this – with her staying out of striking distance, Naruto was basically on his own unless Asuma made a mistake. However, she did trust the whiskered blond to make the right decisions as their team's SIC (second-in-command, to Kakashi). _'Only 2 minutes left. I hope you can last that long, whiskers...'_

Asuma notices Ino's expression as she jumped away. _'Looks like she's out of the fight for the most part. Now then...'_ Asuma turned his attention back towards Naruto. "Alright kid, let's see what you've got."

"...I was hoping you'd say that." Naruto smirked. _'He's upped his game...but he's still holding back. I'll up the ante as well...but I'll keep a majority of my abilities under wraps. There's no telling __**who's **__watching us.'_ Naruto thought, shifting his gaze over towards an area of trees.

(End Music - _Naruto Shippuden OST– Reverse Situation)_

XXXXX

In the group of trees and bushes, a pair of Uchiha and one female genin tensed up. It was clear to them that the blond jinchuriki knew that they were there.

"Damn that demon brat," Both Inabi and Sasuke cursed.

"How did he know we were here?" Ami whispered in shock.

"Because he's a far better ninja then you guys give him credit for." came a voice from behind them. Team 11 turned around to see their other teammate, Kiba, along with his familiar, Akamaru. Inabi and Sasuke frowned at the statement.

"Shut up, dog breath! Nobody asked you!" Ami shouted without thinking. She was prepared to fire another insult at him, expecting him to react.

Kiba simple smirked, shifting his eyes to the spot behind them. "Hey Kurenai-san. How's it going over there?"

The three 'spies' froze on the spot before slowly turning around...to find the cold gaze of Konoha's Ice Queen staring down at them...and her eyes were glowing.

XXXXX

"Heh...guess that takes care of our 'spies'." Naruto smirked. Asuma chuckled at that.

"Makes me glad that she likes me," the jonin commented. "I wouldn't want to be them at the moment. Still, wonder why that Inuzuka kid doesn't sound scared?"

"That's easy: Kiba doesn't even like his team. Hell, they don't even see him as a teammate, even though he's the best ninja on the team in my opinion." Ino answered him.

Next thing anyone knew, a choir of three screams could be heard from the group of trees. Naruto and Ino raised an eyebrow as if to ask, 'What the hell did she do to them?' Asuma, on the other hand, had an idea.

_'Hmm...the rumors of Kurenai-chan having a doujutsu seem to be true. Considering what she specializes in, I'm willing to bet that it's genjutsu-based. The question is, which doujutsu is it? It's not the sharingan or the byakugan, but I'm sure it's nothing I'd want to face as an opponent.'_

"Alright, Naruto...shall we continue?" Asuma smiled.

Naruto return the smile with one of his own before settling back into his taijutsu stance. At that time, Kurenai reappeared in between them with Kiba next to her.

"You won't have to worry about them stealing any jutsus from you boys." Kurenai informed.

"Hey Naruto, Ino. What's up you guys?" Kiba greeted.

"Same old, same old, man." Naruto responded while Ino waved. Kiba then noticed that someone was missing, but didn't say anything when Ino shock her head.

"Alright you two, you can talk later. Naruto-kun here has some business to finish with Asuma here." Kurenai said. Kiba nodded before he and Kurenai got out of their way, signaling for the match to recommence.

Asuma then dashed at Naruto with his chakra blades extended. Naruto whipped out a pair of kunai to block the blow, but got a nasty surprise as Asuma slashed at him. Instead of the blond holding his ground when he blocked, he was sent flying due to the force from the attack clashing against his kunai and skid a few feet before doing a nip up to quickly get back on his feet.

_'Damn, those chakra blades of his are no joke. Even blocking them sent me to the ground. I might just be better of dodging them.'_ Naruto contemplated. Before he could think of a counter attack, though, Asuma began making hand seals. Naruto eyed him for a second before his eyes widened in alarm. _'Shit! Is that-'_

"_**Wind Style: Air Bullet!"**_

All Naruto could do was perform a substitution jutsu to avoid the attack, which absolutely pulverized the log he swapped himself with. _'Man, that was close. That would have really hurt if that shit had connected. Time for an attack of my own...'_

Seeing the Naruto paused for a moment, Asuma quickly darted towards him, intending to make the young genin pay for his hesitation. He was halfway there when he noticed Naruto clinch has hands. He gasped in shock when Naruto looked up at him, his eyes glowing a light blue. That's when his instincts began screaming at him to alter his course of action as Naruto grinned maniacally and shot what looked like a bolt of lightning at him.

Asuma managed to avoid the attack, but noticed that his left shoulder stung slightly. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that a small part of his jonin vest was slightly blackened.

"...What the hell was that? You didn't even do any hand signs! Just what kind of an attack was that?" Asuma asked in awe.

"_That,_ Asuma-sensei, was my kekkei genkai: the ability to weld electrical energy." Naruto responded.

"Umm...kid, that's not a kekkei genkai. Most ninja in Kumogakure can use lightning." Asuma responded dryly.

"While that is true, there are two major differences between me and your average Kumo nin. One, my ability to use electricity goes much deeper than any lightning jutsu, since it is integrated into my body and mind, which means I can use it without hand seals. It also means that I can use lightning to its fullest extent without it hurting me. Hell, lightning is not only ineffective against me, it _powers_ me. The second difference...it runs off its own system," Naruto explained.

"Wait...you mean..." Asuma gasped.

"Yep," Naruto smirked. "My kekkei genkai use **zero **chakra."

_'You gotta be shittin' me! Screw Konoha, with that kind of power, this kid could become the most formidable shinobi, period. I have to end this fight now!'_ Asuma realized and was about to make his move when something strange began to happen: pink flower petals began to fall.

"What the...? We're in the middle of summer. Why the hell are cherry blossom petals coming down?" Asuma wondered. He then noticed that Naruto was gone as well as the area beyond 70 yards. That's when it hit him like a ton of bricks. _'Damnit! I forgot about their third teammate! This is a genjutsu!' _He realized before putting his hands in the ram seal and shouted, "Kai!"

As expected, the genjutsu vanished, revealing all three genin making a charge at him. _'I'm almost out of chakra here. If this next move doesn't work, they might actually beat me!'_ he thought with a hint of panic before going performing the seals for his final jutsu of the match.

"_**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

Naruto, Ino, and Sakura saw it coming, but had no chance of dodging as a very strong gust of wind knock them completely off their feet, sending them flying all the way across the training field and skiding into the ground. Asuma appeared in front of them and created three wind clones which immediately took out kunais and held it them to the throats of all three genin.

"Not bad, for genin. Hell, that would have been a solid showing for a team of chunin, but you still lose." Asuma commented, before reaching into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. As he took one out and put it to his lips, he asks, "Now then, do you have anything to say before I decide whether to give you the location of the scroll or not?"

When no immediate answer came, Asuma was about to say something when Naruto looked up at him, before putting his right hand into a ram seal...and grinned.

"Boom."

Before Asuma could even figure out what the boy had done, the pack of cigarettes and the lone cigarette in his mouth went off...in a cloud of pink smoke. After a moment, the pink cloud dissipated, revealing Asuma...with his entire jonin uniform colored in pink. His hair and facial hair were also pink. All three genin burst out laughing. Kiba was rolling around on the ground laughing his ass off.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Asuma shouted.

"The winner of this spar: Team 7!" Kurenai announced. Asuma spun around to face his date with a bewildered look. "But I managed to subdue them and hold them at kunai point, Kurenai-chan!"

Kurenai serious look slowly morphed in to very mischievous grin. That's when it hit him. "You can't mean...?"

"Yes. All they had to do was swap out your cigarettes with the fake ones you were holding. That pack contained a special jutsu that, upon activation via hand sign, turns the victim's clothing as well as all the hair on their body a certain color – in this case, pink." Kurenai laughed.

Asuma groaned, his hand covering his face. _'It must have been when the Haruno girl put me in that genjutsu. I was only in the genjutsu for a quarter of a minute, but that's more than enough time to swap something on my person with a decoy...'_

"Also keep in mind that they never actually gave up or were knocked out, Asuma-kun. You assumed they had given up. While you did beat them in combat, they ultimately outsmarted you. Had this been a real combat situation and had that pack of cigarettes been a grenade with a genjutsu layer over it, you would have been killed, allowing the enemy to not only survive, but take your remains back to their respective kage to claim the bounty on your head."

Asuma really wanted to argue, but unfortunately, he didn't have a leg to stand on. His date was right: in a real battle, his remains would be in a village morgue, either his own village or the enemy's. _'I guess dad was right...assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups.'_

XXXXX

_**Hokage's Office**_

Everyone in the room simply stared at the scene, not saying a word. After a moment of silence, somebody (Jiraiya) made a snickering noise, causing the entire room to burst out laughing.

XXXXX

_**Back at the training ground...**_

"Why do I get the feeling that a room full of people are laughing at me?" Asuma grumbled. At that point, someone shushin'd in a swirl of leafs. The group of people turned to see who it was. Kurenai's grin got even wider upon seeing who it was. Naruto, Ino, and Sakura were now fighting twice as hard not to laugh out loud again. Asuma's face paled.

It was Anko, Konoha's snake mistress.

"Hey, Kurenai-chan! Where the hell have you been? I've thought you were on your date with Asuma?" Anko grinned.

"I still am." Kurenai grinned.

"Then where is he?"

"...Look behind you."

Anko turned around to to say 'hi' to him, but stopped upon seeing his...new look.

"...Asuma...why the fuck do you look like a giant bottle of Pepto Bismol?"

She then saw Naruto and his two female teammates trying to hold their laughter in (although a few strained laughs managed to get through) and turned back towards Kurenai, who's lips started to make a slight curl upwards. That's when she suddenly understood: it was a prank, spear-headed by her best friend. Anko then grinned evilly before turning back to Asuma.

"Hey, pepto-chan...if I lick you a few times, will you cure my stomach ache?" Anko said in a flirty tone.

That did it. Everyone burst out laughing again. This time, even Kurenai broke down and laughed her ass off.

"Haha, oh man, hahaha, that was classic!" Kiba said, tears coming down his face because he was laughing so hard. "Ya know, the next time our dogs back at the compound get upset stomachs, I'll just call you up!"

"**Now THAT was some funny shit! Oh Kami, the jonin are going to clown his ass for days!" **Kyubi roared with laughter.

_'Somebody shoot me...'_ Asuma mentally deadpanned.

Seeing that he could no longer argue the point, he sighed in defeat and turned to the three genin, who had calmed down somewhat, but were still trying not to laugh out loud for a 3rd time.

"Granted, I'm not entirely thrilled how you won...but you did win. Therefor, I'll tell you where the last scroll is." He then handed them a slip of paper. The three genin nodded, now knowing where their final scroll is.

"Hey whiskers..." Ino spoke up. "How do we find out what Kakashi-sensei's favorite restaurant is?"

Before Naruto could answer, Asuma interrupted him, "You know what? I'll give you the answer to that...if you do something for me."

"No offense, Asuma-sensei, but we're kind of short on time." Sakura said.

"Oh, it's not an errand. Let's just say that I owe someone big time for all of this..." Asuma had mischievous grin on his face as he told them what he wanted them to do.

After hearing that, all 3 genin had grins resembling a group of mad scientists. Even Anko liked what Asuma had planned. Kurenai was surprised at first, but then began to grin. _'Well, well, Asuma-kun...Seems like you have a little prankster in you. You're definitely a keeper. Consider yourself taken.'_

"Man...you guys are just plain evil." Kiba commented, feeling somewhat sorry for the person who was about to be pranked.

XXXXX

_**An hour later at the 'Forrest Green Grille'...**_

"So, you three managed to find the scrolls that I tasked you to find, and to top it off, you did it with an hour to spare. I have to say that I'm impressed." Kakashi praised his genin team.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei, but it wouldn't have been possible without Sakura-chan and Ino-chan." Naruto responded, causing the two girls to blush from the praise.

"Well, in any case, you three are now officially genin of Konoha. We'll start taking missions in three days. Until then get yourselves some rest – you've all earned it." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"See ya later, sensei!" All three genin chirped before taking off towards their homes.

Kakashi stared at the spot they were in for a bit. _'Is it me or did they seem a little too happy just now?'_

Figuring that it was because they were happy to officially be Konoha ninja, the one-eyed jonin shrugged as he pulled out his Harry Potter book to begin reading...only go pale when he saw that it wasn't his book. With a sudden rush of panic, he reached into his _other_ pocket for his Icha-Icha Paradise book. Upon seeing the title of the book, Kakashi gave screamed before passing out.

On the floor next to the passed out jonin was a copy of Icha-Icha Ha–dogei Paradise[1] and a copy of Twilight: New Moon.

_**End Chapter**_

[1] Loosely meaning "Make Out Gay Paradise"


	9. Chapter 9 Deployment to Wave

**Ok, for some reason, I forgot to answer some of the responses from chapter 7, which I will answer along with questions from chapter 8:**

**asredwer:**** Now this is a good way to level constructive criticism (unlike the one from the 1****st chapter). Ino actually doesn't have the exact same "bloodline" as Sakura; however, I can understand if it came off that way and I apologize to anyone else that thought along this line. Unfortunately, I can't explain why Ino has powers somewhat similar to Sakura's at this point without ruining a big part of the story, but trust me – there is a method to the madness. **

**As for Ino's inner self having access to certain info, all I can say is that unlike Sakura, Ino's inner self is a result of an incident involving her birth (which will be touched up on later) – the Yamanaka clan, in general, do not have inner selves – only Ino does.**

**On the subject of Danzo, believe it or not, he is unaware that whatever information is digitalized, the Haruno clan can get access to. However, the Haruno clan is very picky about who can have access. Even most of the CSS aren't allowed to view certain information.**

**As for team 7 being powerful, yes they are the strongest genin team in the village, but no, they are not better than a jonin head-to-head. They only beat Asuma because he wasn't going full power, got careless, and knew next-to-nothing about them. Even a kage could end up dead if they don't take their opponents seriously. Trust me when I say that had they been fighting a serious Asuma, they would have put up a decent fight, but would have lost big.**

**One thing I will say is that if you haven't played InFamous yet, you should play it when you get the chance. The game's story will help explain certain things that happened and will happen later on in this fic.**

**Starfire99****: Yes, "tiachou" does mean team captain, but so does "shushou" (not to be confused with Shishou – which does mean "master"). In fact, "shushou" is a common word. (My source is ****Denshi Jisho)**

**I will use the term "tiachou" in this fic, but it will be for Kakashi. Naruto will be addressed as "shushou" by Ino and Sakura to avoid confusion.**

**Karl Skywalker:**** A lot of the civilians still love and adore the Uchiha clan, but some civilians and nearly all of the shinobi respect the Uchiwa clan, knowing just how arrogant and power-hungry the Uchiha clan is.**

**Scorpionking12:**** I believe that Naruto will get the toad summoning – however, I think I will be giving him another summoning (no, it won't be foxes) – what that summoning is, I haven't decided yet. Some other characters will also get summonings while some characters already have some (besides the 3 sannin), but haven't been revealed yet.**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story so far and I hope you will continue to do so. Now then, on with the story...**

**_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto or InFamous.**

**Chapter 9 – Deployment to Wave**

Sarutobi was in his office...and he was in a fierce battle. This battle, however, didn't involve kunai or shuriken. Hell, it didn't even involve jutsu...although the idea of using a fire style jutsu was awfully temping.

This battle wasn't against enemy shinobi of any kind...although if the ninja responsible kept delivering this enemy to his office, he was going to have a battle with **them**.

The enemy...was several stacks of paperwork – and it appeared on his desk so fast you'd of thought that Scotty of the starship Enterprise was his assistant.

_'This is ridiculous...where in the blue hell does this paperwork come from?'_ the sandaime mentally groaned. He continued to go through it, reading off requests to himself like...

"New screening for Academy teachers - from Iruka..."

_'I agree...after what happened with Naruto-kun...and that Uchiha brat, we can't afford to have our ninja system broken just because some foolish chunin sensei doesn't like someone.'_

"Approved." He agreed as he stamped the paper. He pulled another paper from the stack, this one from Akogi, Sakura's abusive stepfather. His eyes narrowed, getting a feeling of what this request was...and he was right.

"Request to remove Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki from the Konoha ninja corps and awarded to him as slave labor to his side of the family? Absolutely **NOT!**" He growled, stamping "DENIED" on the paper with a bit of force.

As he was doing that, his intercom came on, "Hokaga-sama, team 7 is here to see you. Shall I send them in now?" came a female voice.

"Yes, please." Sarutobi answered, thankful for the break he was about to get. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal all four members of team 7. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow when he saw a familiar cat being held by Naruto, who had an annoyed look on his face. What made the sight strange was the condition the cat was in. All of the cat's fur was sticking out, making it look like a furry sea urchin.

"Naruto-kun...was shocking Tora, the daimyo's wife's cat, really necessary?" the sandaime sighed.

Naruto snorted. "With all due respect oji-san, it was either that or it claws our faces off. Besides..." Naruto smirked.

"...It's kinda cute!" Ino finished.

Sarutobi, Kakashi, and even Sakura sweat-dropped at the two blonds. At that time, the door opened, revealing a rather plump-looking woman.

"Oh there's my little snukums!" the women happily said as she rushed over to grab her pet, but stopped when Naruto held up his hand. Everyone had a confused look on their faces, especially since Naruto looked quite serious.

"Ma'am, before I give you back your cat, there are some things that need to be said. First and foremost, you should know that your cat runs away from you often because you hurt him." Naruto explained.

"I don't understand, shinobi-san. I've made sure that Tora is fed regularly and with food that he likes. I also give him attention by hugging him. How exactly am I hurting him?" the woman asked.

"Feeding him isn't the issue at all. The problem is that you hug him too much and too hard. While animals like dogs don't mind the constant attention – so long as you don't hug too hard, cats are different. They only liked being touched or the like when they want to be. You'll know when they want attention when you see it. Just understand that they aren't built like us. You are bigger than him, so you can hurt him."

"Are you saying that I'm fat?" the woman's eyes narrowed. While everyone in the room paled at the implication, Naruto looked unaffected.

"That's not what I meant, ma'am. I mean that we humans, in general, are larger than Tora. I could hurt him if I hugged hard enough." Naruto calmly answered. The Daimyo's wife nodded her head, understanding what Naruto was talking about.

"I see what you mean. I suppose I do hug quite hard." she admitted. "Can I have him back, please?" Naruto nodded and handed the cat back to her. The cat looked like it was going to run again, but stopped when the woman gently held him.

"I'm sorry, my snukums. Mommy promises to not hug you so hard." she said softly. She then noticed the cat's 'condition'. "Umm...shinobi-san, why does he look like this if I may ask?"

Naruto began to scratch the back of his head with a slightly nervous smile. "Sorry about that, ma'am. He got a bit feisty when we captured him. A bit of my power leaked out when he scratched me and caused his fur to stick out like it is."

"Is he hurt?"

"Not at all. Just give it a few hours and his fur will go back to normal since I only sparked him. He'll be just fine."

The woman nodded, thanking Naruto for catching her cat and for his advice before leaving. The whole room was silent for a few seconds before Kakashi spoke up.

"Naruto, that was a bit risky. The daimyo could have been upset with us if that had gone poorly."

"I understand Kakashi-sensei, but that cat was getting more aggressive each time we captured it. Eventually, it would have gotten so violent that it would have attempted to cause major damage to one of us genin." Naruto answered.

"You may have a point, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said. "Only recently has that cat began to claw at our shinobi. With your advice to the daimyo's wife, we have perhaps seen the last of that particular D-mission. Now then..." the Sandaime reached over and pushed a button on his intercom system.

"Iruka, I need you to bring me that C-ranked mission that just came in." Sarutobi spoke.

"Right away, Hokage-sama." came Iruka's voice. A few minutes later, Iruka walked through the door, carrying the C-rank mission in his hand. He then noticed team 7 was in the room.

"Hey, Naruto, Sakura, Ino! How's it feel to be a genin?" Iruka asked, happy to see his former students.

"Not bad, Iruka-sensei. Although the D-ranks get a bit annoying." Naruto answered.

"Gotta agree with Foxy. That mission involving Tora was downright ridiculous." Sakura groaned.

"Although I have to admit that it was funny when Whiskers made Tora look like a sea urchin." Ino teased.

_'Whiskers? Foxy? Those two were Sasuke fangirls who couldn't stand Naruto during their academy years. Since when did they like him enough to call him those kinds of nicknames...wait...do they know?'_ Iruka thought. Ino then turned towards him, surprising him. _'Did she actually hear me?'_

"Yes, Iruka-sensei. We know about Naruto's secret...and please don't mention Sasuke-teme – that bastard and the rest of his clan care for no one except themselves." Ino told him, shocking the chunin.

"I'm a Yamanaka, Iruka-sensei. Need I say more?" Ino smirked. Iruka looked to say something, but couldn't find a thing to say and simply nodded instead. "Anyway, I'll take it that this C-rank is for you guys." the three genin nodded. Kakashi inwardly groaned. Iruka was not going to let them take this mission without complaining first.

"In that case, good luck, although I don't think you three will need it." Iruka smiled, slightly surprising Kakashi.

"Hmm, I was quite sure that you would argue about this, Iruka." Kakashi commented.

"Kakashi, you know as well as I do that these three could beat a few of our own chunin one-on-one. As far as I'm concerned, they proved themselves when they pulled that prank on Asuma a few weeks ago. The D-ranks only benefitted them by getting them easy money. They're ready for this kind of mission." Iruka responded.

"I agree with Iruka, Kakashi. In fact, I was quite tempted to give them a C-rank right out of the gate." the Sandaime said.

Just then, the door flew open, revealing Sasuke, Ami, and their jonin-sensei Inabi. Team 7 and Iruka inwardly groaned. These three were the last people they wanted to see.

"We want a C-rank mission, Sarutobi." Inabi demanded. Ino, Sakura, Kakashi, and Iruka paled. Not only would the Sandaime be upset about being addressed that way, but so would...

"That's _**Hokage-sama **_to you, Uchiha-san." Naruto stated in a calm, but cold tone.

"Watch your mouth, _genin._ You have no right to talk to me that way!" Inabi snapped.

"Not when you disrespect Hokage-sama like that, you don't." Naruto said in a frosty tone, giving the jonin Uchiha a frosty glare. "Rule 45 – anyone who openly disrespects a Kage may be reprimanded by a shinobi of any rank without fear of penalty."

Inabi was about to open his mouth when the Sandaime cut him off, "Naruto-kun is right, Inabi-san. Your lack of respect will be noted and a reprimand will be put on your record." Sandaime glared.

"Suck up." Ami whispered, but unfortunately for her, the hokage heard her.

"What was that, genin?" Sarutobi snapped his head towards her. "Your sensei was just reprimanded for disrespecting a village leader. Disrespecting Naruto falls into the same category in your case, seeing as he is head genin. You will also receive a reprimand on your record." Ami was about to growl, but stopped when the hokage gave her a glare that said 'One more sound out of you...'.

"Now then, about this C-rank mission..." Sarutobi continued, holding up the document. "The client has requested two teams of shinobi for this mission. Kakashi, your team will be one of those teams."

"What about us? We want a C-rank as well." Sasuke spoke for the first time. Sarutobi shifted his gaze towards team 11 and kept his gaze on them for a bit before finally answering.

"Be thankful that no other team is available to take this mission besides team 7, or I wouldn't have even considered your team at all." Sarutobi answered. Naruto closed his eyes, keeping a annoyed groan to himself. Team 11 looked at Naruto and smirked, thinking that they got their way. That, however, was short-lived.

"That said, Kakashi is in command of this mission. Who he appoints as his SiC is up to him. You _will_ follow their orders on this mission – no if, ands, or buts. Do I make myself clear?" Sarutobi commanded.

"...yes, Hokage-sama." Inabi said, obviously not happy that he wasn't given command of the mission. The Sandaime nodded, but then noticed that someone was missing.

"Where is your third team member, Kiba Inuzuka?"

"He is being punished. He will not be coming on this mission." Inabi answered.

"Yes, he will. He is apart of your team. Who goes on what mission is my decision to make, not yours. Out of curiosity, why is he being punished?"

Inabi went slightly rigid upon hearing that question, which didn't go unnoticed by Sarutobi or Naruto. When Inabi wouldn't answer, Naruto answered for him, "Hokage-sama, I believe Kiba was punished because he was the reason Kurenai caught his entire team spying on us while we were conducting our genin exam."

Sarutobi again glared at team 11. "Let me make this clear, Inabi-san. If you, Sasuke, or any other Uchiha member are caught copying jutsu via sharingan, you _will_ be suspended for a month without pay and you will have to pay restitution to the person and/or clan you stole from."

The intercom on Sarutobi's desk crackled to life, "Hokage-sama, a client is here to see you."

"Send him in, please."

A moment later, the door opened to reveal a middle-aged man with a bottle of sake in his hand. "This is Tazuna, Wave Country's architect." Sarutobi began. When the Sandaime explained to the man who would be escorting him, he gave a mixed reaction.

"...Ok, the blond one seems a bit short, but he looks like he can do the job. The two girls next to him don't look too bad, either. Kakashi-san, I've heard of. The two dark-haired guys scare me a bit. The girl with purple hair...looks like a complete weakling." This caused team 11 to grit their teeth in anger. Ami reached for her weapons pouch when...

"If I see that kunai leave your pouch, you will be suspended from active duty." the sandaime threatened her. She gave a slight scowl before moving her hand away from her pouch.

Tazuna then notices that team 11 was missing a ninja. "Don't most shinobi squads come in 4's?"

"Yeah, that do." came a voice from the doorway. It was Kiba.

"Ah, Kiba-san. I'll take it that you're here because you wish to file a complaint." Sarutobi answered. Tsume had sent Sarutobi a letter earlier expressing concern about her son's team and their treatment of him. Kiba nodded, despite the death glare he was getting from his team. "I will address the issue after your mission. This man is from Wave Country and needs to be escorted back. Your team and team 7 will be the ones to carry out this mission."

"Hold it, kid – those people are your teammates?" Tazuna pointed towards team 11. Kiba nodded, managing to keep his opinion of them to himself.

_'He might be the only one on their team I'd consider trustworthy...'_ Tazuna thought to himself.

"Alright.." Kakashi spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I want everyone to meet me at the gates in 2 hours. If you're low on weapons or supplies of any kind, now is the time to take care of that. Naruto, stay behind. We need to talk. Dismissed!" With that, everyone disappeared to go do what they needed to do – accept Sasuke. Kakashi looked right at him with a neutral expression, although the Sandaime and Naruto knew that the copy nin wasn't happy that the young Uchiha didn't follow orders.

"Something wrong, Sasuke?" Kakashi said in a neutral tone.

"What are you going to talk to the dobe about?" Sasuke asked, although the undertone suggested that it was more of a demand.

"That doesn't concern you, Sasuke. Besides, I gave you an order and I expect you to follow it." Kakashi responded in his lazy tone, but his eyes were anything but.

"I will...after you tell me-" Sasuke began, but was cut off by Naruto, who has had enough of the Uchiha's attitude.

"You were just given a direct order, Uchiha. Either you follow it or you will__be charged with insubordination. Do I make myself clear?" Naruto reprimanded in a cold harsh tone. Before Sasuke could even talk back, Sarutobi himself stood up and aimed some KI at Sasuke, who began to sweat.

"If you even think of talking back, I _**will**_ carry out that charge."

"...Yes, sirs." Sasuke finally responded and stormed out the door muttering to himself.

"Well, now that he's dealt with..." Kakashi said, then turned his attention towards Naruto. "Since this mission is under my command, I want you to be this mission's second-in-command."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at that. "I'm honored that you would appoint me as SiC, but what about Inabi-san? He most certainly won't take orders from me. He is a jonin, after all."

"Overall, yes, he outranks you, but during a mission, if the commander of the mission appoints even a genin as SiC, all other shinobi on the team have to follow your orders, regardless of rank. If he doesn't..." Kakashi explained.

"...He is written up for insubordination and is subject to demotion...or imprisonment if his actions cause injury or worse to a teammate." Sarutobi finished for him. "Every ninja must learn to follow orders from the persons in command of the mission, regardless of rank."

"Exactly. Also, I need you to keep an eye on team 11." Kakashi continued. "Besides, disobeying orders, should they attempt to punish Kiba for filing a complaint, you are to tell me and the hokage about it in your report when this mission concludes."

"Gotcha, oji-san. Anything else?"

"No, Naruto. That'll be all from me. Kakashi?" the hokage motioned.

"That's it from me, Naruto. Go ahead and get prepared for the mission. See you in a few hours." Kakashi said, while giving him a eye smile. Naruto nodded before he shushined out of the room, leaving behind static electricity in the spot he was in.

"So...what do you think, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked in a serious tone. Something about this mission was...off.

"...I think our client is hiding something, but I'm not sure what." Kakashi answered.

XXXXX

**-Konoha main gate, 1 hour and 50 minutes later-**

Sakura and Ino had arrived at the main gate after packing all the necessary equipment for their mission and were now waiting for everyone else. Despite being stuck with team 11 for this mission, they were excited to finally go on a mission not ranked as a 'D'.

"Feels good to finally get a higher ranked mission," Sakura said.

"Got that right, forehead. I honestly thought those D-ranked missions were going to drive me insane," Ino said happily, but then began to frown a bit. "But still..."

Sakura instantly knew what Ino left unsaid – said mission was going to be shared with team 11. While they were happy to have Kiba along, they were far from thrilled having the other 3 members tag along for this mission.

"I know what you mean, piggy. Sasuke's bad enough – but Ami and Inabi may also cause trouble for us."

She was about to say more when she saw a group of people approaching the gate out of the corner of her eye...

"Speak of the devils..." the pinkette groaned. Sasuke, Ami, and Inabi approached the two genin kunoichi. Ami seemed to grin like a predator upon seeing Sakura. The pinkette put on a brave face, but inside she was shaking like a leaf. Ami terrorized her for nearly their entire time at the academy. Sasuke didn't say anything, but it was obvious that he was brooding like he normally does. Inabi had a neutral expression on his face, but Ino and Sakura knew that he wasn't thrilled having them along.

"Well, fathead, you gonna actually pull your weight mission, or are you going to be the damsal in distress?" Ami jeered. Sakura tightened her fists, but felt Ino put a hand on her shoulder, which told her to calm down.

"Look at the blond bimbo attempting to calm fathead down." Ami continued. "Is big-head Sakura scared of a C-rank?"

Sasuke smirked at the comment while the corner of Inabi's mouth twitched upwards. It was obvious that Ami was attempting to get a reaction out of the two girls. Ami was about to say more when...

"Ami, do you EVER shut up?" came a voice from behind team 11. Everyone turned towards the voice and saw Kiba standing there with an annoyed look on his face.

"What's it to you, dog breath?" Sasuke spoke up.

"They're my friends, Uchiha – and I stick up for mine. I'm an Inuzuka, after all." Kiba shot back. Akamaru barked in agreement with his human partner.

"Stand down, Inuzuka. You are out of line." Inabi barked. Kiba was about to argue, but stopped when Inabi flashed his sharingan at him. "You are in enough trouble from me, Inuzuka. Your punishment will be far worse if you talk again."

Kiba was inwardly furious. It was clear as day that Inabi allowed Sasuke and even Ami to say what they want to him without penalty. Inabi was about to continue scolding Kiba when Sakura spoke up.

"Why do you treat him like that? He's only looking out for people he cares about!"

Inabi snapped his head towards her and glared a hole straight into her. "Keep your mouth shut, Haruno – or I will shut it for you. You will learn to respect your betters."

"I would highly suggest you not talk to her like that, Inabi-san," Ino stepped in. Her tone may have sound respectful, but inwards, she was fighting not to get into a shouting match with the jonin. "Making threats towards a clan heiress could land you in hot water with her clan. Hell, you might already be in hot water if Tsume-san's reaction is anything to go by."

"Why you little..." Inabi looked like he was going to attack the two girls when a voice from behind stopped him.

"Back down, Inabi-san. Now." came Naruto's voice. The blond stared right at the jonin Uchiha with a cold glare.

"How dare you talk to me like that! You are nothing more than a genin and therefor have no command whatsoever over me!" Inabi glared back.

I'm afraid he does, Inabi." came Kakashi's voice. Everyone looked towards the copy ninja, with Tazuna standing right next to him. "As commander of this mission, I've designated Naruto as the mission's second-in-command. That means that his orders are just as good as mine for this mission. When we give you an order, you are expected to follow. That goes for the rest of you as well. Insubordination will not be tolerated. Are we clear?"

Sakura, Ino, and Kiba instantly gave him a 'Hai, Kakashi-sensei'. Sasuke and Ami almost growled it out, but nevertheless gave him a 'Hai, Kakashi-taichou'. Inabi simply grunted. He was ever so angry at this development. _'You will pay for this, demon...I will personally see to that! You too, copy ninja. As far as I'm concerned, you having that sharingan is an insult to our clan!'_

Ino managed to mentally hear Inabi's inward threat, but decided not to call him out on it. It wasn't a good idea to let team 11 know that she could read unprotected minds just yet...but she would make sure that he didn't get a chance to hurt her male teammates.

"Alright then, shall we get going?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

XXXXX

As the group made their trek towards Wave Country, Tazuna seemed to slightly fidget more than he did back in Konoha. At first, Naruto chalked it up to there being more than one bandit, but that didn't explain why he asked for two squads of shinobi. Bandits maybe dangerous to a defenseless person or a group of people, but even a decently-trained civilian could make bandits think twice about attacking them.

As they continued to walk, Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw something that shouldn't be present during the current weather pattern: a puddle. Naruto took a quick glance at everyone. Kakashi and Inabi narrowed their eyes at the puddle in the same manner he did. Most of the other genin were somewhat confused about a puddle showing up on a warm day, but didn't let their guard down. Even Tazuna seemed to raise an eyebrow at the puddle. Ami was the only one in the group who was completely oblivious to the puddle, too busy hurling insults at Sakura.

Naruto saw this and mentally groaned. _'Does she even realize that puddles aren't suppose to be present during a sunny day...which has been the condition for weeks now? How in Kami's name did she become a kunoichi in the first place?'_

Naruto walked next to Kakashi before whispering in a casual tone, "How do you want to handle this, taichou?"

Kakashi thought for a moment. There was no way in hell that this was random. It was bad enough that this puddle was an obvious genjutsu. It's pretty clear now that someone stronger than average bandits were involved in this mission. There was only one thing left to do.

"Let them make the first move, Naruto. Let's see who they go after."

XXXXX

**-15 minutes later-**

"Gozu and Meizu..." Kakashi smirked, making both Kiri rogue ninja sweat. They knew who was addressing them...and the stories they heard were none to pleasant for missing nin. "...AKA, the Demon Brothers of the Mist."

"Some demons they are," Naruto deadpanned.

"**Hmph. Demons my ass."** Kyubi scoffed. **"Granted, they're talented, but demons...no."**

"_No kidding," _Naruto agreed. _"By the way, did you notice that Ami-teme didn't even move when these guys attacked?"_

"**Which begs the question – how the hell did she even pass the genin test?"**

"_Yeah, I asked myself that earlier...which I promptly stopped under the threat of a massive headache." _Naruto answered, causing Kyubi to giggle.

"Talking to Kyubi?" Kakashi whispered, which Naruto gave a nod to. "What did she say?"

"She says these guys are just regular chunin, not demons of any kind. 'Demons my ass' I believe was what she said word-for-word. She also questions why Ami was even allowed to wear a headband since she didn't even move during the ambush." Naruto smirked as Kakashi chuckled at the demoness' barb towards the team 11's wannabe bully. Their conversation, however, was interrupted by the two detained missing nin.

"You're not gettin' shit out of us!" Meizu glared as did Gozu, looking as defiant as they could. Their glare didn't last long once they saw kakashi smirk.

"Who says I was trying to get information out of you two? You already answered my question." Kakashi said lazily.

"I said you're not getti – wait, what?" Meizu stopped in mid sentence, confused.

"We didn't say anything to you, copy ninja." Gozu spoke for the first time.

"It's not what you _said_ – it's what you _did_." Naruto chimed in. The two brothers still looked lost until Naruto jerked his head towards Tazuna, who was standing some distance away with the rest of the shinobi team.

"...Shit. It's no use, brother. They knew we were after the bridge builder when we went after him first." Gozu sighed.

"But Gozu..."

"No buts, brother. We had a job to do – and so do they. They were better than us." Gozu admitted. Meizu looked at his brother for a moment...before finally giving a sigh, indicating that he was also ready to cooperate.

"We will give you any information that you require, but before we do so, we must ask that you hear us out. This assassination job isn't what it seems." Meizu said.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi questioned, confused as was Naruto. Seeing that he had the two konoha shinobi's attention, Meizu continued.

"First off, understand that we, along with our boss and our little sister, didn't even want to take this job in the first place."

"Then why did you take it?" Naruto inquired.

"...because...we were forced to after something went wrong."

**Flashback – 3 weeks ago**

"_No." said a tall man with the bottom part of his face wrapped in bandages. He wore a mist headband with a slash going through it. He didn't seem to have eyebrows. He also had a very large Zanbato on his back._

"_What? I'm offering you $500,000 to kill that bastard and you say 'no?" shouted a short man dressed in a business suit and a round pair of shades._

"_Watch your tone, fool. We may need money, but not the kind of money you're offering. We don't kill innocent civilians. You want him dead, Gatou? Do it yourself. Haku, Meizu, Gozu, let's go." said the tall man._

"_Yes, Zabuza-sama." Haku responded as she and the two demon brothers followed him out, leaving a fuming Gatou in his office._

_Just as the group of ex-mist ninja were leaving, Haku spoke up, "Zabuza-sama..."_

"_What's on your mind, Haku?" Zabuza responded. The former seven swordsman could tell that the girl was on edge about something._

"_I don't trust that man not to come after us. I did some research on Gatou and I found out that this man is aggressive to the point that he has never been officially turned down on anything."_

"_Did anyone turn this guy down?" Meizu spoke up, his eyebrow raised._

"_I heard of a few people who did."_

"_And?"_

"_...they disappeared shortly after."_

_Zabuza spoke, "What do you suggest, Haku?"_

"_I think I should go back and keep an eye on that man. I just get the feeling that he's going to attempt to get rid of us simply because we said the word 'no' to him."_

_Again, there was brief period of silence. After thinking it over, Zabuza finally came to a decision._

"_Haku...go ahead and monitor Gatou for tonight. If you even think that bastard is going to make a run at us, report back immediately. Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to take anyone on at that base. If you are spotted, get out of there."_

"_Yes Zabuza-sama." Haku said as she took off back in the direction they came._

_After several minutes, Zabuza turned to the demon brothers. "Meizu, Gozu...go keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe. I agree with her – Gatou may try to either kill us or contact Kiri hunter nin and tell them where we are. If something happens, report back to me ASAP."_

"_Yes, sir!" both brothers saluted before disappearing in a cloud of mist._

_**Later that night...**_

_Zabuza sat in his hotel room, awaiting word on his subordinates. It was now pass midnight...and he was beginning to worry. 'I don't like this. They should have been back by now...'_

_Just then, the door flew open. Zabuza grabbed his sword and was about to make a move towards whoever came through the door when noticed that the 'intruders' were the demon brothers. Zabuza's eyes widened when he saw that both were in terrible shape with a small trail of blood behind them._

"_What happened to you two?" Zabuza asked in a slightly concerned tone. That's when he noticed something else...or lack thereof._

"_Where's Haku? Why isn't she with you?" he asked, this time in a tone that neither of the brothers were used to hearing: worry._

"_Please...forgive us...boss. They...got her..." Gozu responded in a weak tone._

"_Who got her?" Zabuza demanded. He wasn't necessarily angry at the demon brothers, but he had a good idea of who was involved and his blood boiled just from thinking about it._

"_Gatou and his men, sir." Meizu answered, who was also weak, but was in better shape than his brother. "But it wasn't any of his ronin that ambushed us. Imouto was taken by shinobi."_

_Zabuza paled at that. Technically, she wasn't a missing nin since she never actually took part in the Kiri shinobi program, but it was likely that the Mist hunter nin didn't see it that way...depending on who sent them._

"_...How many hunters were involved?" the swordsman asked._

"_...it wasn't Mist hunters that got her, boss." Meizu answered. Zabuza was about to breath a small sigh of relief when he saw the look on Meizu's face. He looked highly tense. "The ones who took her were 3 times worse. Gatou hired Iwa ninjas...and not the normal kind, either."_

"_...which kind?" Zabuza asked, a bit of nervousness evident in his voice._

"_...the BOULDER black-ops kind."_

**End Flashback**

"The next day, a note came. It stated that we are to work for Gatou anyway...or else." Meizu said in a low voice, obviously ashamed that they had failed to protect their surrogate sister.

Kakashi and Naruto were silent for a moment. They constantly monitored the two brothers during the entire story to detect deception of any kind. However, what disturbed them was that they were telling the truth and that their emotions were real. They never had a choice in the matter. Kyubi had to calm Naruto down at the mention of what Gatou did – and the fact that Iwa was seemingly involved.

"I understand if you must execute us. We are considered 'nuke-nin' after all. All we ask is that our sister be rescued if possible and that you find a way to deal with that scum that calls itself a 'business man'." Gozu said, his voice indicating that he excepted whatever fate was in store for them. Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other for a moment, before nodding in silent agreement of what to do. The brothers mentally prepared themselves for death, but surprised by Kakashi's next words.

"Your execution will not be necessary. In fact, because of the circumstances surrounding this job, your defection of Kiri, and the fact that you cooperated with us, our village may offer you amnesty."

If both demon brothers didn't have their breathing masks on, you would have seen their jaws drop to the floor. The whole thing surprised them, but the comment on their defection definitely got their attention.

"Our defection?" Gozu asked. "What do you know about it?"

"The fine details are considered an S-class secret, but I will say this: Konoha does not trust certain 'higher-ups' inside the Kiri government." the brothers nodded at this. In other words, the leaf were aware that certain people in Kiri were made scapegoats by some of Kiri's power players. Even a few of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were reported to have been 'hung out to dry'.

"That said, you won't be able to take any further part in this mission. Doing so could put this 'Haku' girl in danger." Kakashi warned. The brothers wanted to argue about continuing the mission, but saw the wisdom in Kakashi's words. The note they received did also say that telling anyone else would result in the death of Haku, which the BOULDER nin could find out rather easily through torture.

Seeing that they understood, Kakashi continued, "We'll need to contact our village and notify them of the current situation. Once that happens and they understand what has transpired, they will send a blood clone expert, who will create copies of the two of you. The copies will then be executed and left here to fool the BOULDER black-ops into believing that you are deceased while you two are taken into protective custody. Any questions?"

"Won't they be able to eventually tell the difference between a blood clone and a real body?" Meizu asked.

"Eventually, yes...but a blood test would take at least 2 weeks to even determine if the bodies were possibly fake and a additional week to confirm it." Naruto answered. Seeing the looks on their faces, Naruto explained, "When you have the world's best medic in your clan, you pick up some things."

XXXXX

Back in Konoha, a certain blond, big breasted beauty sneezed while enjoying some of her favorite sake with her two teammates, causing her to spill said drink in her lap. Both Jiraiya and Orochimaru were tempted to laugh, but thought better of it when they saw Tsunade's death glare. You don't laugh when Tsunade looks at you like that.

_'Whoever is talking about me is going to pay for that...'_ Tsunade thought darkly. Both of her male teammates gulped, thinking the exact same thing. _'May Kami have mercy on the soul that caused Tsunade to spill her sake.'_

XXXXX

"Naruto? Something wrong?" Kakashi asked, seeing Naruto getting a slight look of dread on his face. Even the demon brothers looked slightly concerned. _'I know that look. Zabuza-taichou gets that look when he senses that Mei-sama is pissed at him for some reason.' Both thought._

"Why do I get the feeling that I pissed somebody off?" Naruto responded, slightly on edge.

_'Yup. This gaki's as good as dead. I wonder what female he pissed off...'_ both brothers mentally deadpanned.

"Anyway, you two have anymore questions?" Kakashi asked.

The two demon brothers shook their heads.

"Good. Oh and one more thing: when you are released and officially put on Konoha's active roster, be wary of the Uchiha clan. They...aren't very friendly to others. Naruto, tell Sakura to contact the village and inform them of the situation." Kakashi ordered.

"Right away, Kakashi-taichou." Naruto saluted before turning around and heading back to the group to give Sakura her orders. Kakashi then turned his attention towards Tazuna, who saw the look in the copy-cat's eye and began to sweat.

"Tazuna-san..." Kakashi called out to the bridge builder in a serious tone. "We need to talk."

**END CHAPTER**

That wraps up chapter 9. Let me apologize now for going so long without giving you guys a new chapter. I won't go into detail seeing that it would take far too long to do so (and for the fact that some of it is private), but I will say that when you get the chance, please donate to any organization that is involved with helping the people of Japan get back on their feet.

Read n' review please, and thank you.


	10. Chapter 10  The Truth About Iwa

Chapter 10: The Truth About Iwa

After their encounter with the Demon Brothers' Meizu and Gozu, Kakashi immediately questioned Tazuna about why he really hired two teams of Konoha shinobi. Tazuna, seeing that it would be impossible to lie to Kakashi now that the 2 ex-mist nin had spilled the beans, gave in and explained the situation.

Gato, Sole owner of the Gato Shipping Co., arrived in Wave about a year ago. At first, the people were happy because it was believed that the arrival of such a prominent figure would transform Wave from a small little country into a big name player in the trading world. Citizens even dreamed that the financial upswing would see the return of a ninja village in their country.

Excitement, however, turned into fear two weeks later when Gato, after secretly buying up all of the shipping docks in the country, announced that an embargo would be put into place. No ships, other than the ones owned or endorsed by Gato, were allowed in or out of the country, preventing the people from receiving any sort of money, food, and the like. It also prevented them from leaving. While there were plenty of ships that went in and out of the country, most of the cargo going in went to Gato and his men. The citizens of Wave were forced to make due with 15% of whatever came in.

The shop owners were forced to pay a "protection fee", which amounted to 90% of their revenue. As a result, most novelty shops went out of business. Gato cut the owners of necessity shops, such as grocery stores, a break and took half their revenue instead of most of it, allowing the people to feed themselves, but that was all.

Just when they thought that the situation couldn't get worse, it did. A local hero, who Tazuna felt would become his son-in-law, was executed in front of the entire village by Gato and his hired ronin when he spoke up against Gato's practices. The town's spirit was broken after that, unable or unwilling to go against Gato out of fear of being publicly humiliated, then killed.

Tazuna then said that he got the idea to build the bridge to the mainland from the former Daimyo of Wave, who went missing shortly after. With a bridge to the mainland, Gato's control over the country would be broken since every country in the ninja world had a law stating that is was forbidden for any person, group, or company to control a bridge of any kind for any reason without the consent of the countries involved.

Once built, the bridge becomes government-owned by the Land of Fire, since Wave doesn't currently have a recognized Daimyo to negotiate control. Gato knew this and upon learning of the bridge and its creator, responded by attempting to hire Zabuza, Haku, and the Demon Brothers, but they refused upon learning why Gato wanted to hire them. Instead, the greedy billionaire did the next best thing and hired three Iwa BOULDER nin, who managed to capture Haku. This forced Zabuza and the Demon Brothers into working for Gato under extreme protest.

Before he went missing, the former Daimyo of Wave left Tazuna with a bank account that evaded Gato's control. While there was more than enough money to hire a team of jonin, most of the money had to be used to fund the supplies for the bridge. This forced Tazuna to hire 2 teams of genin instead of a squad of the best available jonin.

After hearing Tazuna's story, a vote was taken in order to decide if the mission should be voided or continued.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino immediately voted to continue the mission. They would be damned if they were going to allow some midget tyrant walk all over human rights in Wave. Kakashi voted to continue since his students did so.

Inabi and Sasuke voted to void the mission based on the fact that not only had Tazuna lied about the mission, which was now A ranked, but also didn't have the funds to pay for such a high-ranking mission. Ami also voted to void the mission, but she didn't give her reason. Team 7 suspected that Ami was scared of going up against such high-ranking shinobi. Kakashi had said that in the event that the voting results in a split, the mission would have to be cancelled since one team couldn't hope to handle two BOULDER nin on their own, even with a jonin along for the ride. However, that didn't happen when Kiba, the last person to vote, sided with team 7 to continue the mission.

As expected, this made Kiba's team members and his sensei angry at him, but Kiba ignored this. Having decided on their course of action, the group continued their trek to Wave country. During the trek, Kakashi noticed something odd – someone was following them. The copy nin glanced over to his students. He didn't expect any of them to be able to notice their tail, but to his surprise, Naruto looked directly at him and gave a barely noticeable nod. _'So, he knows...but how?' _

Kakashi and Naruto decided to ignore it for now and continue. Whoever it was, they didn't want them to realize that they were on to them. As it began to get dark, Kakashi decided that twilight was a good enough excuse to stop.

"Alright. Well stop here for the night."

"Are you sure?" Tazuna questioned.

"Yes. We need to come up with a plan, anyway. After the demon brothers, I'm fairly certain that the next encounter will be a jonin-level shinobi." Kakashi said loud enough for the spy to hear, but making so that it wasn't obvious. Tazuna looked confused, but didn't say anything when Naruto shook his head, silently telling him not to talk about anything that they had discussed earlier.

"Now then," Kakashi continued. "Ino, I want you to go and gather some firewood. Sasuke and Ami, locate as many water sources as you can within a 5 mile radius and get a sample from each. Kiba, I need you to hunt for meat and any vegetation that is eatable. Inabi, set up a 1-mile perimeter around the camp. Sakura, stay and guard Tazuna. Naruto, we need to talk."

"Understood sensei. Just give me a sec..." Naruto said, as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a scroll that read "Extra". He unsealed the scroll and out popped two more scrolls, except that these scrolls read "storage" and had the number "0" next to it.

"Ino, Kiba, takes these with you." Naruto said, tossing the scrolls to his friends. "Considering what you're getting is going to be heavy, you'll need them. There aren't any security measures on these scrolls, so all you need to do is simply pump a hint of chakra into the seals to either seal or unseal items."

The two ninja nodded before vanishing to complete their assignments along with everyone else.

_**Kakashi and Naruto**_

Kakashi signaled for Naruto to erect a sound barrier around them. Naruto did as instructed, going through a few hand seals. After a few seconds, the immediate area around them shimmered slightly, indicating that the barrier was active.

"You noticed..." Kakashi stated. Naruto nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, I noticed alright. Who do you think it is?"

"If I had to guess, I think it's Zabuza. My guess is that he's tailing us to see what we do from here on out. That said, if what the Demon brothers said was true, then he may try to communicate with us first." Kakashi theorized. He was about to continue, but stopped when he saw Naruto perform a ram seal. Less than a second later, a small spark appeared at tip of his fingers. After a few seconds, Naruto's eyes shot open.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke, his voice holding a slight edge. "We may have a problem."

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"Zabuza isn't the only one out there." This caused Kakashi to pause for a moment.

"How far out?"

"...About a mile from where Zabuza is." Naruto answered. Kakashi knew right then and there who it was.

_'That's too far for them to keep tabs on us. However, the person is close enough to track Zabuza without him noticing.'_ Kakashi thought. "Can you identify who it is, Naruto?"

"Not really – my control haven't progressed that far yet without resorting to combining it with a jutsu. However, I can tell you that whoever it is, seems to prefer to stay on the ground. Based on that and the fact that our spy is keeping their distance the way they are, there's no doubt about it: it's an Iwa BOULDER agent." Naruto frowned at that last part. Iwa was a very sore spot with Cole and, to a lesser extent, himself.

The two sat in silence for while, trying to come up with a plan for the current situation they were in. They wanted to talk with Zabuza, but the problem with that was that if they talked about what they learned from the demon brothers, there was a good chance that the Iwa nin would report the incident to Gato, resulting in Haku's death. That's when it hit Naruto.

"Sensei, I may have a solution." Kakashi came out of his own thoughts, giving his genin charge his full attention.

"I know that our job is to protect Tazuna and we should continue to do that. However, if Iwa is truly in contact with Gato, then we can't just simply guard him until he finishes; Iwa will simply send more ninja to deal with us."

Kakashi stopped at that. _'That...actually makes sense. Iwa is a major shinobi nation, so it does stand to reason that they have the resources to monitor the situation. Still, what are you getting at, Naruto?'_

"So what are you suggesting?" Kakashi responded, voicing a portion of his thoughts.

"What I'm saying is that maybe we are looking at completing this mission the wrong way. Instead of simply placing dividers around the flower bed to protect them against weeds, why not just get directly to the problem by pulling the weeds out themselves?"

Kakashi's eyes widened greatly at that suggestion and was about to speak when Naruto held up his hand, indicating his jonin sensei to let him finish.

"It may seem like that would be frowned upon sensei, but it won't be for two reasons," Naruto held up his index finger. "One, the demon brothers have said that he has been heavily involved in major illegal activities; activities that have more than likely pissed off several countries since the rise of "The Shop"[1]. What do you think will happen once everyone finds out that Gato is a black market player?"

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement. Being a major player in the black market doesn't earn you many allies in legit countries or hidden villages which, unfortunately for Gato, are the major shinobi villages and even a majority of the smaller hidden villages. Naruto then held up a second finger, signaling his second point.

"Two, not one single country recognizes him as the official ruler of wave, even the ones who turn a blind eye to his dark-alley activities. If we free wave from Gato, allowing the citizens to elect a new daimyo, Iwa will be forced to do nothing or risk losing clients since they will be labeled as an untrustworthy village should they attack wave or us. They'll try to distance themselves from Gato and his thugs once things go south."

Kakashi had to admit that Naruto had very strong points. Iwa would want to keep this mission from the public eye if it is revealed that Gato is heavily involved in illegal activities, meaning that even if they had to kill the BOULDER ninjas, Iwa would very likely let it go since their involvement could have major consequences for them should it become public knowledge. Still...

"Naruto, your idea is quite brilliant. However, we still have to come up with a plan to carry this operation out. Keep in mind that if we don't do this correctly, Haku-san will likely lose her life." Kakashi pointed out.

"I know. That's why I propose that we capture the Iwa spy." Naruto then looked Kakashi directly in his eye. "You know as well as I do that there's little chance of me beating one of Iwa's elite ninja one-on-one. That's why you're the person that will determine whether this plan succeeds or fails."

Kakashi nodded at this. The boy knew that he was powerful for a genin or maybe even a chunin, but at least he knew that taking on a BOULDER nin by himself was suicide.

"Once we've captured the spy, there's a technique that I've been meaning to try out. It'll be tricky since this person is a BOULDER nin, but if everything goes smoothly, we'll know _everything_." Naruto finished, emphasizing the last word.

Kakashi had to admit that he was impressed with Naruto's approach. There were some jonin that would be hard pressed to come up with such a plan.

Seeing Kakashi nod, Naruto spent the next hour going over exactly what he had planned.

Kakashi was silent for a long moment, digesting everything that he and his genin charge just discussed. It wasn't everyday that a genin thought up such a complicated plan that not only had a good chance of working, but would also likely cut the mission time from two weeks to a few days. Regardless of which country/village you haled from, the speed of a mission was second only to completing the mission successfully itself.

"So, what do think, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, bringing the jonin out of his thoughts.

"Naruto...that has to be one of the most well thought out plans I've ever heard from a genin. I was going to tell you what I had in mind, and while it works well enough, it would take longer to pull off than yours. I say we go with your plan." Kakashi approved.

"Besides," Kakashi let a small smirk form on his face. "I'm quite interested to see what you've learned from Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto return the smirk. "Let's get to it, then."

_**Sakura and Tazuna**_

"Hey, Sakura-san..." Tazuna spoke up, breaking up the comfortable silence.

"Yes, Tazuna-san? What's on your mind?" Sakura responded.

"I couldn't help but notice that you and your two blond teammates don't seem to like most of that other team that's with you. Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you three looked like you wanted to hurt them."

"Were it so easy..." Sakura muttered darkly. That caused the bridge builder to raise an eyebrow. _'Those three must have done something for this girl to be this...dark, when she talks about them.'_

As if she read his mind, Sakura began to explain their experience at the academy and even some events after it. While she didn't tell him specific things such as the Kyubi, Naruto's powers – as well as her's and Ino's – and the information from the mind pool, she wasn't shy about telling Tazuna just how horrible Naruto was treated by a lot of people, herself included.

"So how do you feel about that kid now?" Tazuna questioned. Sakura looked down a bit, remembering her actions towards Naruto.

"I know that I like him, at least as a friend, but..." Sakura blushed as she wasn't able to finish. She felt something else, but she just can't explain it. She came out of her thoughts when she heard their client chuckle a bit.

"I maybe an old man, but I can tell that you really care for the blond boy. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Things will work out. Just continue to be there for him and the problem will take care of itself." Tazuna saw that Sakura was thinking about something and was about to ask, when the pinkette beat him to it.

"The thing is, I think my friend Ino may also like him as well..." Sakura said softly. Sakura and Ino had indeed made up, becoming friends again. While she didn't think that it would ever get that bad again, she admitted that she and Ino were going to have to talk about Naruto at some point.

"Don't worry about that, either. From what it seems, You guys get along great. I think that you guys will find a solution that will make everyone happy." Tazuna said sagely. Sakura smiled at that. _'I don't know how it'll work out, but he seems to believe we can make it work somehow. Maybe when this mission is over, me and Ino can talk about-'_

"What are you talking about now, billboard brow?" came a snide voice. Sakura turned towards the voice and scowled. It was Ami, along with Sasuke, who looked bored.

"That's personal, Ami." Sakura said, successfully keeping her timidness down.

"So?" Ami smirked darkly. "That never stopped me before. What makes you think I'll stop now?"

Sakura wasn't feeling very confident after that threat. Ami had been, and still is, a bully. You would think that all that would stop when they became ninja, but the problem, for Ami, was that there were at least a few chunin instructors nearby to ensure that it didn't get too bad. They were no longer in the academy and the only adult present wasn't a ninja. Still, that didn't seem to stop Tazuna from trying to defend the pink-haired kunoichi.

"She right young lady," Tazuna stepped forward, a frown present on his face. "What was discussed is between me and her. You're name wasn't even brought up."

"Shut up, you old fool!" Ami rudely shot back. "I'm a ninja, which means I can do some very...unpleasant things to you. When it comes to billboard brow, I can easily get what I want out of her. Now, either shut up or I'll ask Sasuke-kun to shut you up."

Tazuna, while slightly scared, looked furious and was about to respond when Sasuke spoke up. "She right, old man. This is ninja business. Get involved and you'll have to explain to your family why you came back to them a cripple." the Uchiha threatened before turning to Sakura. "I think I can take a guess what you were talking about. You were talking about the dobe, weren't you?"

Sakura head was lowered, her eyes hidden by the shadow of her pink hair. Sasuke didn't seemed to notice this and continued his taunting.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I guess even monsters need some love, even if it is from a weakling." Sasuke smirked. Sakura immediately snapped her head up, anger clearly present in her eyes. However, she didn't get a chance to respond as a kunai came flying out of the bushes and embedded itself into the ground right in between Sasuke's feet. Everyone looked towards the direction the kunai came from and saw a highly pissed off Ino Yamanaka.

"I highly suggest you shut the hell up, Sasuke." Ino said darkly. "You've done more than enough to warrant an ass whipping."

Ami snorted. "She's no threat. Inabi-sensei will cover for us, anyway." She then began to stalk towards Sakura with her kunai drawn. "Now then, billboard brow, it's time to tell me what you were discussing with the old f-" She stopped when she felt something cold and sharp press against her neck.

"Drop the kunai or I'll put a permanent smile on your face." Ino hissed in a low icy voice that cause Ami's blood to run cold. During their years at the academy, she never seen Ino this angry before. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the killing intent that she was currently sensing told her that Ino was serious about severely hurting her.

Even Sasuke was shocked at how fast Ino appeared behind his teammate. _'I didn't even see her move.'_

"What do you think you're doing to my student, Yamanaka?" came Inabi's voice as he grabbed Ino's wrist and flung her away from Ami. Ino rolled once before landing on her feet. "I should charge you with attacking a fellow shinobi along with threatening a fellow leaf shinobi."

Tazuna stepped forward to defend the blond "Now, wait a minute, Uchiha-san. She ha-"

"Stay the hell out of this, you old fool!" Inabi snapped at the bridge builder, cutting him off. "It's bad enough that we actually have to continue the mission when we should have left you to your doom. As far as I'm concerned, you have no say in anything else. Be glad that we have no choice but to follow the orders of Hatake and-"

"What the HELL is going on here?" someone shouted. Inabi froze upon hearing that voice and turned around to Naruto looking at the scene with his arms folded, clearly expecting an explanation. Everyone was too stunned to answer. Naruto almost never shouts...unless he's pissed.

"I'll ask again: What the hell is going on here?" Naruto demanded, his glare intensifying. He was starting to lose his patience.

Ami, who seemed to forget about Naruto's rank, shot off her mouth without thinking. "Get lost, Uzumaki and let Inabi-sensei handle this."

"AMI!" Inabi shouted with a small hint of desperation. Inabi may despise the blond jinchuriki, but he remembered the warning that the hokage had given them. "I certainly don't like it, but on this mission, he's our superior. Keep your mouth in check!"

Ami looked as if she wanted to argue, but even Sasuke was glaring at her as if to say, 'Shut the hell up before you get us in trouble'. She huffed out a "fine" and kept quiet after that.

Naruto, seeing that Inabi had enough sense to get his team under control, decided not to add to the issue, but he still didn't like how the Uchiha jonin treated Tazuna and decided to address that. "Inabi-san, may I ask why you were being so extremely rude to the client?"

"He was getting himself involved in shinobi business." Inabi gruffly responded, sending a quick glare to the bridge builder.

Naruto calmly turned towards Tazuna and asked, "Is this true? Where you asking about Shinobi secrets?" His voice held no anger at all. It was simply a question he wanted to know the answer to.

"Heavens, no!" Tazuna exclaimed. "I was defending Sakura-san here from tha-"

"I was not!" Ami shouted without thinking...again. Inabi mentally face-palmed. _'She maybe loyal to our cause, but she might very well be the most mentally challenged genin in her entire graduating class.'_

"Ijimekko, your jonin sensei has ordered you to keep quiet until spoken to, yet you even chose to disobey his orders. That little outburst just got you written up on report." Ami's eyes widen in fury as her hand shot towards her weapons pouch, but it never made it there as a hand had ahold of her wrist. She looked up and saw that Inabi was staring down at her with a look of disappointment.

"_Move your had away from your weapons pouch. Your actions will be discussed later." _He whispered harshly. After Ami was silenced once more, Naruto gestured for Tazuna to continue.

"As I was saying," the bridge builder resumed. "I was defending Sakura-san from Ami-san. Sakura and I were having a private conversation and Ami threatened to use force against her to tell her. Her teammate, Sasuke-san, then joined in and threatened to maim me if I didn't 'stay out of their business'."

Naruto immediately snapped his head towards the Uchiha and gave him a withering death glare, but continued to talk to Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, the contract states that if one of our shinobi threatens your life without just-cause, you are within your rights to press charges against the perpetrator. Do you wish to exercise this right at this time?"

Sasuke froze. That was in the contract? Since when does that sort of thing become standard? He glanced around. While Ami looked confused, he saw that Inabi was sweating. _'This isn't good. Inabi-sensei rarely ever sweats like that. Shit...'_

"No, I'll let it slide this time." Tazuna stated. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, but found that Tazuna was glaring hard at him as if to say, 'Do it again and it's your ass.' While Sasuke looked unaffected, on the inside, he was pissed. _'Are we that weak that civilians can now threaten us with imprisonment? That will change when we take over.'_

"That still leaves the matter of Yamanaka holding a kunai to Ami's throat." Inabi stated.

"I believe I can answer that as well, Naruto-san." Tazuna spoke up once more. "Ijimekko-san drew a kunai and walked towards Sakura-san in a threatening manner. Ino-san then appeared behind her and order her to drop the kunai. That's when Inabi-san showed up and tossed Ino-san to the ground."

Inabi scowled, but not just at Tazuna, but at Ami as well for making things worse for them. _'This is humiliating...but if what the old fool said was true, then Ami let her foolish attitude get the best of her. She made her bed, now she has to lay in it. As for Sasuke, he also needs to learn when to make threats. I'll have to have a talk with Fugaku-sama about his son's actions.'_

"It would seem that my actions may have been a bit rash. If my students Ami and Sasuke did, in fact, threaten you all, then I suppose they need to be punished." Inabi admitted, albeit hesitantly. "I will punish Sasuke myself. He is the heir to the Uchiha clan and must understand that he can't simply threaten someone like that. I leave Ami's punishment to you, Uzumaki-san, since she seems to have the most infractions, one of which was against your teammate."

Naruto knew good and well why Inabi chose to 'punish' Sasuke himself. _'The only thing he's going to tell the little snot is when to make threats, nothing more. As much as I can't stand Ijimekko-teme, I don't approve of Inabi-teme throwing her to the wolves. This is definitely going on report.'_

"Fine." Naruto sighed lightly. It wouldn't do any good to try and argue with the man at this point. There was too much they needed to do right now.

He then turned his attention towards Ami, giving very cold look. "Ijimekko, as of now, your pay will be reduced and your actions will be reported to the hokage. You are also no longer allowed to be out of sight of either Kakashi-taichou, myself, or Inabi-san. If you are, you will be brought up on insubordination charges, which may result in you being confined to the village with no missions above D-rank for 4 months. Do I make myself clear?"

Ami scowled, clearly not happy with her punishment, but the look by Inabi told her that causing anymore trouble could result in further punishment from him. He was already displeased with her lack of tact.

"Yes...Naruto-taichou." She grinded out, then stomped away with Inabi and Sasuke following her. Not even a minute after they left, Kiba came back with a small amount of blood on his clothes.

"Hey guys, I got plenty of food for..." he stopped when he saw that his friends seemed to be upset. He sniffed the air out of habit and caught the sent of his entire team being in the vicinity just recently. "Ok, what happened?"

Naruto decided that Kiba should know what happened, since it was possible that team 11 could try to take their anger out on him. At least Kiba will be cautious around them if he is aware of the situation. "To make a long story short, Ami threatened to torture Sakura-chan while the teme threatened to cripple Tazuna-san."

Kiba growled at that. The Inuzuka clan doesn't take kindly to people who threaten clan members and clan allies. He is, quite frankly, getting tired of his team's attitude and is very close to filing a request to be put on the inactive list if it meant getting off this team.

"Kiba...calm down, would you? It's under control. Did you get some good food for us?" Naruto asked, attempting to get the Inuzuka male to tone his anger down.

Kiba gave a grin and held up the storage scroll Naruto gave him. Unlike before where the scroll had the number "0" on it, it now showed the number "40". Naruto nodded, motioning for him to unseal the scroll. Kiba proceeded to open the scroll and lay it out on the ground before putting his hand on the seal. A loud 'poof' was heard as several brown packages appeared in front of the group.

"Found some wild boar, some chickens, lots of herbs, and plenty of fire fruit [2]. I butchered the animals at another location so that predators would focus on the remaining carcasses instead of the meat I stripped off of them. We should be good until we reach wave."

Naruto nodded. "Alright then. Sakura, I need you to oversee dinner preparations. How long do you think it will take?"

Sakura went into her think pose for a second as she eyed the ingredients that Kiba brought back with him. "We can have dinner ready in about an hour, give or take 10 minutes, shushou."

Naruto nodded. _'Good. That's plenty of time to do what Kakashi and I need to do.'_

"Alright, I leave dinner in your capable hands, Sakura-chan. I'm going to check back with Kakashi-sensei and then go on my rounds." Naruto smiled as he shushined away, leaving a hint of static electricity in his wake.

About 50 yards way, a shadowy figure with a Iwa headband had been watching the blond.

"So the boy is an Uzumaki, as I suspected," the Iwa boulder nin mused.

"Combined with the fact that he looks like that accursed yellow flash, it's no doubt that he is the bastard's offspring based on some information that the Namikaze may have married someone from Uzugakure. Capturing the boy would be a far more valuable prize than Zabuza Momochi...although I'm sure Tsuchikage-sama will reward me for bringing him that blood thirsty maniac, as well."

The figure leapt away, following the blond genin. Unfortunately for the spy, he never noticed a seal that was glowing on his back.

Seconds after the Iwa nin left, two dragonflies that had been sitting on a branch behind him, 'poofed' out of existence.

**Timeskip – 30 minutes**

The Iwa nin continued to follow the blond shinobi as he appeared to be making his rounds. The boy stopped when he got into a clearing. The spy grinned evilly. _'Perfect. He's alone. Time to make my move.' _The boulder nin the leapt up high in the air and landed right in front of Naruto. The genin appeared to be caught off guard, giving the Iwa nin all time he needed.

"**Secret Iwa Art: Golem Warrior!"**

Before Naruto could make a move, a short rumble was felt before he heard something rise out of the ground behind him and grab him, effectively pinning his arms to his side.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't even know that I was following you, son of the Yellow Flash." the Iwa nin gloated. "Now then, before I take you back to Iwa to face charges of war crimes, tell me what your team is planning to do with Gato-san."

He would get no answer as Naruto simply glared at him. The Iwa nin was beginning to get impatient. He needed to get as much information as possible about the Konoha group. Gato was paying too much money for him to come back without viable info. Gato could then refuse to pay based on his failure to complete his end of the contract, which would make Iwa look bad.

Deciding to take the interrogation up a notch and gave the blond several right hook across his face, causing blood fly out of his mouth. "Now I'll ask you again – what are you damn leaf fuckers planning to do!"

Again, Naruto didn't answer. He looked into in his eyes and realized that he wasn't going to get any answers out of him in the short amount of time that he had. _'Fine, I guess I'm just going to have to continue having them watched to see if I can get more information that way.'_

"No answer, huh? That's fine. I'll just have to get the information from someone else..." His face then formed a predatory grin. "I'm not sure who the pink haired one is, but I'm quite sure that the blond one is a Yamanaka. I believe that Tsuchikage-sama has a warrant for the arrest of any member of that clan, too. I wonder what she would taste like..." The predatory scumbag was about to knock the blond genin out, when...

"Welcome to the end of your life, you worthless Iwa scum." came a ice cold voice from behind him. He spun around and was shocked to see Naruto staring him down with an arctic cold glare. Before the Iwa nin could act, Naruto made a one-handed ram seal and muttered, "Kai!"

Right after he said that, 5 seals surrounding them in a pentagon formation activated. Bolts of electricity suddenly shot out of the seals...and straight towards the boulder nin. The nin's eyes widened when he realized that he couldn't move. "W-What have you done to-"

He was interrupted by a loud noise from where he had thought he held the boy captive. He turned his head, the only body part he could move. His face went pale when he saw who it was. The golem that he had made was gone, lying on the ground in several pieces, and in its place was the one person that no enemy ninja wanted to see: Kakashi Hatake, AKA, the copy ninja. Just like Naruto, Kakashi's glare was frosty. That's when it dawned on the boulder nin...

_'He used a henge to make himself look like the brat! But that means...!'_

Did you really think that your presence would go unnoticed with ex-ANBU captain leading this mission?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "Also, what the hell is this shit about being charged with war crimes? I wasn't even alive when that war happened!"

"That doesn't matter, you son of a murderer!" the boulder nin spat. "Iwa law states that if an enemy ninja commits a crime against us, they, as well as their family members can be charged for that crime." The second he finished, he felt a fist impact his stomach, bringing him to his knees.

"Just what the hell gives your village the right to charge me with a crime I didn't commit?" Naruto growled. "Especially since it was YOUR village that not only started the war, but willfully attack and killed civilians!

The boulder nin scowled at him defiantly. "Your bastard of a father killed a platoon of our soldiers-"

"Because they raided and murdered an entire civilian village in our country! If anything, YOUR current kage could charged with war crimes by fire country since that village was directly under their jurisdiction!" Naruto yelled, starting to lose his composure. Kakashi moved to calm his genin charge when he heard the Iwa nin snort.

"So? They refused to serve us when we marched into their town and demanded their livestock and women. Anybody that cross us is-" He was cut off when Kakashi grabbed him by the neck and began to squeeze.

"Most...of my family was in that village." Kakashi spoke with an ice cold edge in his voice. "If that's how the third conducted business then and even now, then maybe someone needs to remove Iwa as a ninja village altogether."

The boulder nin froze in fear. Every story that he had ever heard about Kakashi Hatake being one of the most frightening Konoha shinobi that his village had ever seen, began to rang true.

Naruto was shocked. He had never seen the famous copy ninja act this cold before...and it was a scary thing to see. _'Sensei...' _

Although Kakashi let his cool demeanor return to his normal level and stopped applying pressure to his neck, the Iwa shinobi then remembered what Kakashi had said and...laughed?

"You actually think that old fool runs our village?"

Kakashi, surprised by this new piece of info, immediately dropped him to the ground. What the hell did he mean by that? Naruto was just as stunned to hear this. All this time, he thought that the 3rd Tsuchikage had been in power even to this day. What the hell was going on? As if he was reading their minds, the Iwa nin answered the unasked question.

"Onoki never did like the fact that the council was the reason we decided to go to war with everyone. We have the power to rule the ninja world and that old midget claims that we shouldn't try to make enemies. As a result, the council decided to remove him from power. Unfortunately, the old bat fled the village before the council could send assassins after him. A new Tsuchikage was elected and three days later, we declared war on Konoha. Believe it or not, the 3rd Tsuchikage is a more wanted man than even you are."

"Who is the current Tsuchikage, anyway?" Naruto questioned.

"Like I'll tell you, Namikaze scum. You may have escaped capture today, but sooner or later, we will get what we want: the death of you...and every member of your family as well as any friends that you have made. We will kill them all." the boulder nin threatened. He then bit down on something in his mouth. Kakashi's eyes widened.

"He just activated a suicide pill!"

"Very good, copy ninja. I will be dead within a minute, so unless you can somehow get me to talk in that span of time, I'm afraid that all the secrets that I know will die with me!" the Iwa nin laugh maniacally.

However, his laughing stopped when he saw Naruto give him a grin that seemed to say otherwise. Seeing the look on the nin's face, Naruto decided to drop the bomb, knowing that he just got the last laugh.

"It's a shame that your pill doesn't work faster than that." Naruto smirked as he placed two fingers on the boulder nin's forehead. Not even a second later, a seal appeared on his forehead.

"What are you doing?" the Iwa nin half shouted in panic.

"Tell me..." Naruto said in a casual tone. "What is required for the human brain to translate what we see, taste, smell, hear, and touch?"

The Iwa nin's eyes betrayed his realization of what Naruto was getting at. _'Damnit! He's going to get the information anyway!' _He mentally screamed, realizing that Iwa's biggest secret may have just left its walls.

"Electricity, and unfortunately for you..." Naruto's body began to pulse electricity. "...I have plenty of that."

Naruto slammed his hand onto the seal that was on the nin's forehead. The Iwa nin screamed as he became engulfed in electricity for what seemed like several minutes, but when this much pain was going through your body, time always felt like it was slowing down. The boulder nin's muscles were now ripping themselves to shreds and smoke was already beginning to form. Finally Naruto removed his hand from the Iwa nin's forehead, causing said ninja to fall to the ground, dead – his body nothing more than an empty ash husk.

"May Kami have mercy on your soul...Chimmoku no Ishigaki[3]." Naruto stated with cold finality as the wind began to blow away the remains of his body.

Kakashi waited for Naruto to collect himself for a minute. Getting all the information from someone else's brain and sorting it out was something that couldn't be rushed. After a few minutes, Naruto finally opened his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei...I know where they're keeping Haku."

Kakashi nodded. "Impressive, Naruto. Good work. Now we can put an end to this mess."

"Sensei, there's something else as well." Naruto continued. Kakashi gave him a curious look.

"It seems...that Onoki was never responsible for starting the 3rd major shinobi war. In fact, most of their ninja don't even know what really went on." Naruto said quietly. All his life, he and Cole had believed that Iwa as a whole was responsible for the fall of Uzugakure. After learning everything from the now dead boulder nin, it would seem that only a select few were aware of what had really happened, and it seems that the Onoki never had a choice in the matter.

"What does all of that mean, Naruto?"

Naruto paused a moment before answering, "The 4th Tsuchikage, along with the Iwa council, used a completely separate ninja force to do their dirty work. This nin wasn't a boulder nin at all. He was a member of their secret ninja force."

Kakashi's eye widened at what Naruto was implicating. _'That would mean...'_

"Yeah," Naruto answered for him, knowing what his sensei was thinking. "This secret ninja force from Iwa is known as the CORE of Iwa...and they make Danzo-teme's ROOT look like Club Disney."

[1] "The Shop" is a organization that has control over most of the black market. As the story progresses, more about them will become known.

[2] A fictional fruit (for this story) that is a mix between a tangerine and a jalapeño pepper.

[3] Stone Wall of Silence


	11. Chapter 11 Cleaning Up the Cluster Fuck

Chapter 11: Cleaning Up the Cluster Fuck

_**2 Hour later, back at the campsite**_

Both teams as well as their client, Tazuna, were gathered around the campfire, eating dinner that Sakura had cooked. While team 11, outside of Kiba, refused to give her any sort of credit whatsoever, everyone else loved her cooking so much that Kiba even asked if she was trained by a Akimichi at some point. Sakura blushed at the praise, but thanked everyone for the compliments. Tazuna himself said that outside of his daughter, she was the best cook he had the pleasure of eating from and asked what she did.

Sakura explained that because the wild boar meat was tough, she had decided to use the bones, along with some herbs, to make a stock first. Once that was done, she took the boar steaks and submerge them in the boiling liquid for about an hour and a half. After that, she pulled them out and shredded the pork, turning the steaks into pulled pork. She seasoned the fire fruit with basic seasonings (salt and pepper) and then roasted them along with some garlic. It may have been simple, but Sakura explained that fire fruit is meant to be eaten with minimal seasoning because it already has a lot of flavor to it. The salt simply enhances that flavor (so long as you don't add too much, making it salty) while the pinch of pepper adds a bit more kick.

While they were eating, Kakashi and Naruto decided to fill everyone in on what had happened a few hours ago. Without going into how they took down the Iwa agent, they explained that everything wasn't what it seemed in Iwa to the outside world.

"Wait...so you're telling us that the Sandaime Tsuchikage wasn't the one responsible for Iwa's actions before, during, and after the war?" Ino questioned, still somewhat skeptical. They were taught at the academy that the 3rd Tsuchikage, Onoki, was a complete tyrant. However..._'Then again, they also told us that the 4__th__ Hokage killed the Kyuubi...and that said vixen was an evil being bent on world destruction...'_

Sakura was also taken back by this new information. "Naruto-kun...if this got out into the open, it could cause a major political storm in Iwa...which will more than likely cause both a political and economic collapse."

"Umm, would we want something like that to happen to them?" Kiba spoke, voicing what everyone else had on their mind.

"The political part...yeah, we would..." Naruto answered. "A major change in government would likely lead to a more peaceful Iwa – and Iwa that isn't likely to attack us since most of their ninja aren't aware of the truth behind the war. However..."

Naruto frowned a bit as he thought about the last part. Iwa certainly wasn't his favorite place, but he held no ill will towards the civilians or (now) the majority of their ninja. "...A economic collapse would make life almost unlivable for the civilians there. We can't let this information fall into the wrong hands for that reason alone."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, uncaring of the situation Iwa's civilians were in. "It's their fault, whether they admit it or not. They shouldn't have picked the current tsuchikage to begin with."

Naruto glared at the young Uchiha, although it didn't surprise him since the Uchiha clan always did look down on civilians. "That's where you'd be wrong, Uchiha. Those people don't get a say when it comes to village politics. While the Tsuchikage has absolute power during wartime and has final say even during peace on any bill or political matter in the village, it's their council who elects the tsuchikage of Iwa in the first place."

"Well, in any case," Kakashi cut in, wanting to get his team back to the current mission at hand. "We now know the entire situation involving this mission."

_'Thanks to Naruto.'_ the copy nin mentally added. Despite being Konoha ninja, Kakashi didn't trust team 11 (except Kiba) with any jutsus that Naruto has performed so far. It wouldn't do to give them information that can be used against Naruto at some point.

"So what's the plan, Kakashi-taichou?" Kiba eagerly asked, wanting to get into the action as quickly as possible.

"Naruto and myself haven't gone over all of the information yet. For now, we continue on to wave while guarding Tazuna-san as planned. Once we get to his place of residence, we'll set shop and then go from there."

Everyone nodded in understanding. It would take way too long to explain everything to them and they needed to get Tazuna back to wave so that he could finish the bridge. What they didn't know was that Kakashi and Naruto had already discussed what they were going to do with Haku. Still, even with the knowledge obtained from the memories of Iwa's Stone Wall of Silence, rescuing her would be the hardest part of the mission. Not only was she at Gato's HQ, the two remaining Iwa nin were likely to be guarding her. The plan had to go without problems – or it could cost Haku her life. Another problem was letting Zabuza know about what they were going to do. Zabuza wasn't just going to trust them just like that – he does have a large bounty on his head, after all. However, Naruto had at least solved that problem by sending a henged clone to Zabuza's known location...

_**1 Hour earlier at a hotel outside of wave...**_

Zabuza was absolutely frustrated with the situation he and his team were in. He had only been allowed to see Haku once since she was captured by the Iwa nins. While she was mostly unharmed, the scared look in her eyes pulled at his heartstrings. Haku was like a daughter to him...and just like any father, he was scared for her life and her well-being. The ex-mist nin wasn't stupid – bad things tend to happen to kunoichis who were captured.

The only reason that he felt that Haku wasn't in immediate danger was because it seemed that 2 of the 3 Iwa nins didn't like what they were doing. In fact, Zabuza noticed that the 2 female Iwa nins shot quick, but heated glares at their employer, Gato, and their male teammate. The male Iwa nin was the one he prayed to Kami wasn't guarding his daughter alone - he had noticed the leering looks the disgusting bastard was giving her – and he didn't like it at all.

Another thing that had devastated him was that he had overheard some of Gato's ronin talking about two rogue mist nin being found dead by one of the Iwa ninjas. It goes without saying that Zabuza was pissed beyond reason. Granted, he wouldn't be happy with the Konoha nin that apparently killed them, but he didn't blame them much since they were simply doing their job. No...nearly all of the blame goes to Gato. He swore to himself and Kami that he would see that midget bastard dead, regardless of who killed him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a noise come from the window. He immediately had his Zanbato his hand and swung it towards the noise, but was surprised when a Konoha shinobi with blond hair had blocked it with what looked like a sword made of light. He was about to make another move when the blond boy spoke.

"Whoa there, big guy. I'm not here to fight."

Zabuza stared the young blond for a long moment, attempting to find any deceit from the boy. However, to his surprise, he found none. With that, he slowly lowered his weapon, but still kept it out.

"Who are you and what do you want, boy? I'm not in the best of moods right now." Zabuza grunted.

"Name's Naruto, Zabuza-san, and what I want is to get you and your team out of this giant cluster fuck." Naruto answered seriously. Zabuza's eyes widen slightly, surprised that the boy knew about their current situation, but quickly went back to his cool stare.

"And what would you know about our situation?" Zabuza lightly barked. "You look like nothing more than a green horn genin to me." No sooner had he said that is when he felt all of the hair on his body stand up. That's when he saw Naruto's eyes – they gave off a light blue glow.

"Well, your half right – I am a genin...but green horn..." Naruto pointed towards the area surrounding Zabuza. The ex-mist nin's eyes widened considerably...and this time, they stayed that way. On the floor were 4 seals – all of them pulsing with electricity.

"...hardly."

Zabuza said nothing as he continued to stare at the boy. After a few minutes of silence, a small chuckle could be heard.

"It seems I've underestimated you, gaki. Nobody's been able to take me by surprise since before the time I was a newly promoted jonin. Even most chunin show at least a little bit of fear when coming face-to-face with me. You've got balls, kid, as well as my attention – by the way, what kind of sword is that?"

Naruto gave a smirk of his own. "This...is a lightsaber. Most people believe it to be a weapon that was only existed in a science fiction film."

"Kid, you don't have to dumb it down for me. I've seen my fair share of Star Wars movies." Zabuza chuckled. "Still, I have to admit, something like this shouldn't be possible since I'm sure that weapon of yours is a energy guzzler – Which begs the question, how the hell are you powering that thing?"

"Sorry Zabuza-san, but that's a clan secret. Still, you may come to learn of that in time. Now then, down to business – getting you and your party out of this mess."

Zabuza's eyes shifted slightly downwards, with a small hint of sadness. "Kid...I overheard one of those weak-ass ronin talking about how my 2 apprentices had been killed by a bunch of leaf nin." His eyes then slightly narrowed. "You wouldn't happen to be part of that team, would you?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, I am. As for that ronin you are talking about, if he was saying that..." Naruto then smirked. "...good – it means that our plan is working."

"Plan?" Zabuza raised what would have been an eyebrow if he had one. Naruto held up his hand, signaling him to halt the conversation for a moment. He then made a few hand signs that Zabuza recognized as an A-ranked privacy jutsu. A low hum could be heard for a few seconds before going silent once more.

"Pardon my interruption, Zabuza-san-"

"Just call me Zabuza, kid. I'm not big on honorifics unless they're absolutely necessary."

"Fair enough, Zabuza. The reason I put up a privacy jutsu is because I don't want Gato, his thugs, or those Iwa nins to find out that the demon brothers are, in fact, alive." This caught the rogue ninja by surprise. He quickly schooled his surprise and motioned for the blond to continue.

"The bodies that Gato has in his possession are nothing more than blood clones. Granted, they will likely find out in a week that the bodies are indeed fakes, but that won't matter. Haku will be safe long before they learn that fact."

"I told those two not to say anything..." Zabuza half growled, half groaned.

"Calm down. They only said anything because they were desperate to find help. They were lucky enough that the client hired us and that he lied about the mission being C-ranked."

"You said you could save Haku, but you might be in over your head, kid. Those three Iwa nin are boulder black-ops." Zabuza said, somewhat skeptical of Naruto's ability to get Haku back.

"_Two_ Iwa nin, Zabuza." Naruto corrected with a knowing smirk on his face. That caused Zabuza's thought process to stop what it was doing.

"...what do you mean?"

Naruto smirk grew bigger as he dropped a fairly burnt Iwa headband onto the floor in front of the swordsman. "_'What I mean'_ is that Iwa's Stone Wall of Silence is now a fucking statistic, and before you ask...yes, he screamed like a little bitch."

If it weren't for the bandages covering his face, Naruto would have seen Zabuza's jaw hung wide open in complete shock. _'This kid just offed one of Iwa's most dangerous ninja! I was told by our tyrant of a Mizukage that Ishigaki took on over 25 of our jonin and not only lived, but came away with nothing more than scratches – scratches that wouldn't even require a civilian to go to the hospital. Yet, this kid, this...genin...took him down and he himself isn't even injured.'_

As if reading his thoughts, Naruto slightly shook his head. "While the plan to trap, interrogate, and kill him was my idea, I had help. I don't think my plan would have worked with out sensei."

"And who's your sensei?" the swordsman asked.

"Kakashi Hatake." came the answer to his question, leaving the ex-mist nin stunned once more.

_'This kid's gotta be shittin' me! His sensei is the Sharingan Kakashi? Kakashi Hatake is known to be one of the world's most dangerous non-kage level shinobi. Combine that with the fact that this kid could have killed me by surprise if he so desired, Ishigaki never stood a chance, even if he was one of Iwa's best. If this kid and his crew is here to help, maybe we can get out of this yet. Still, I want to test one more thing...'_

"I've got one question for you, Naruto. What will happen once this whole thing is done?" Zabuza asked carefully.

Naruto sensed that Zabuza wanted to trust him, but still had a few lingering doubts due to him and his three apprentices being labeled missing nin by mist. Naruto nodded in understanding at the question. The swordsman didn't want to fall into a trap that could ultimately send him and his crew back to Kiri as prizes.

"Two things: 1) We let you go and you go about your business or 2) You guys can join our village without penalty." Naruto answered.

"Why would the leaf accept us when we are wanted fugitives?"

"Because..." Naruto said as he became serious. "We already know that the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were framed by a corrupted Mizukage. We don't support the current Mizukage due to the fact that he wanted to destroy any bloodline he saw. We had even discovered plans that called for suicide bombers to sneak into our village and detonate themselves in or near clan houses that were known to have bloodlines.

The only reason that a war didn't break out was because at that time, the mist erupted into a civil war. Our hokage agreed that sending in ninja would be suicide, so we simply left the situation alone. Lord hokage has asked us to make an offer to any swordsman of the mist that we come across to join our village. Are you willing to accept our offer?"

Zabuza nodded in understanding before going silent for a while, thinking about everything that the blond genin had told him tonight. At first, he thought about turning down the boy's help, but he was at his wit's end with no ideas of how to rescue Haku. This kid was willing to stick his neck out to save his surrogate daughter and all he asked in return was for them to join the leaf village. It would be nice to have someplace to call home instead of being on the run all of the time. His mind made up, Zabuza stood up and walked over to Naruto, who was awaiting his answer. The swordsman stared at Naruto for a moment before slowly sticking his hand out...to shake the boy's hand.

"Kid...you have a deal."

**The next day, just a few miles from Tazuna's house...**

It had been a quiet morning as the convoy had been walking for nearly 4 hours. Naruto informed Kakashi what had happened once the clone that met with Zabuza dispelled the previous night. The rest of the team was told to expect an attack, but Kakashi and Naruto knew what was really going to happen.

The group heard a noise from the bushes and were immediately on guard. Just as the group was getting ready for an attack of any sort, the tension evaporated when a rabbit game running out of the bushes. The rabbit ran past everyone and stop right in front of Naruto. While a bit strange, nobody thought much of it. Naruto and Kakashi looked at each other before nodding with small smirks on their faces. The signal had been given.

**Just outside Gato's HQ**

A figure waited patiently as he watched the ronin go about their business. The figure wasn't at all impressed with Gato's "top-notch" security. They weren't even doing anything other than lazily walking around and drinking sake that they likely took from the village. Hell, they kept walking in the exact same pattern ever since he arrived. Even sadder: these guys looked like they could barely handle 4th year academy students.

As he continued to watch the ronin, he felt a slight pulse of chakra in his pocket. The figure pulled out a teal scroll – which then promptly went 'poof' and disappeared. The man smirked. It was time to set the plan in motion. He began to walk towards Gato's base as if he was suppose to be there.

Two patrolling ronin stopped walking and looked right at him. They narrowed their eyes at him, but not of suspicion – it was dislike. Nevertheless, they jerked their heads towards the main building, signaling for him to proceed. This was good since ronins were known to despise shinobi. The fact that they didn't even take a closer look meant that they didn't suspect a thing.

The man proceeded forward and entered the building. It didn't take him long to encounter a Iwa kunoichi, who was walking towards him. She looked fairly agitated.

"You're late...Ishigaki."

**Back with the convey**

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" Kakashi and Naruto shouted at the same time as a giant Zanbato came spinning towards them. Naruto grabbed both Ino and Sakura, dragging them to the ground along with him. Kiba grabbed Tazuna and dragged him to the ground. While Sasuke dropped to the ground by himself, Inabi had to grab Ami as she was still confused – and just in time as the blade passed over them and imbedded itself into a tree.

On top of the blade stood the demon of the bloody mist himself. "Well, well...isn't this a surprise. I never thought I would run into _you_...Sharingan Kakashi."

"Zabuza Momochi...Kirigakure's Demon of the Bloody Mist..." Kakashi lazily responded. This got the attention of Sakura and Ino.

"You mean this guy is..." Ino gapped as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah," he answered. "He's one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

"Bingo, gaki." Zabuza smirked as he let out a little of his killing intent.

Kakashi, Naruto, and even Inabi seemed unaffected by the site of the missing nin. Sakura was certainly scared, but she was able to hide it, if only barely. Ino was the same way. Kiba was sweating profusely, but was still able to control most of his fear. Sasuke was shaking like a leaf, barely able to control his breathing. Even his father couldn't put out this much KI. Ami...wasn't even standing. She was on her knees, almost sobbing. She was absolutely scared shitless. Even Tazuna was doing better than she was...and he was a civilian!

Zabuza noticed Ami's reaction to his KI, but didn't act on it. He had already agreed to the deal and didn't want to run his and his three apprentices' chances of being accepted into the leaf. Despite that, the mist nin would make it a point to talk to Kakashi about Ami's reaction later on – either that girl needed to be re-trained or drop from the shinobi program altogether.

He made note of the extra chakra signature a quarter of a mile behind the leaf group. He was inwardly relieved when Kakashi and Naruto signaled to him that they knew about the observer behind them. Naruto went one step further by moving his foot on top of a rock that was in front of him and tapped on it once.

_'So it is one of the Iwa nins...' _Zabuza mused before he inwardly smirked. _'This is exactly what we had planned. If one of them is here, then that leaves just one of them guarding Haku – and if what the kid said was true, then those two kunoichi are boulder ops in name only. Apparently, the brass in Iwa didn't want to spare any of their actual boulder ops on this mission. The CORE shinobi Ichigaki was only sent to keep an eye on them. That may explain why the kid wants them alive...'_

"Now then, Kakashi – you know who I'm here for. Time to hand over the bridge builder." Zabuza said, pointing towards Tazuna.

Kakashi smirked. "Sorry Zabuza, but you know I can't do that. It'd be bad for business if word got out that Konoha gave up their clients at the first sign of trouble."

"Very well, Kakashi – it's your funeral...as well as the brats." Zabuza grinned somewhat maniacally as he swung Kubikiribōchō through a nearby tree, easily slicing it in half with no resistance.

Kakashi spoke to the rest of the leaf team without taking his eyes off of the ex-mist nin, "Alright, listen up. I will handle Zabuza – Naruto and Inabi, you two will be my back up. Only jump in when necessary or when I request cover fire. The rest of you, guard Tazuna using a pentagon formation. Ino, you're in charge back there. Sakura, Kiba, Sauske, and Ami – you're to follow Ino's orders to the letter. Failure to do so will result in you being charged with insubordination. Do you get me?"

"We get you, sir!" Ino, Sakura, and Kiba chanted. Sasuke simply grunted. Ami nodded weakly.

"You ready, Kakashi?" Zabuza taunted. While everyone else saw it as a taunt, Kakashi and Naruto knew better. The only thing that concerned the three of them was that Inabi wasn't in on the plan. Granted, that was why Kakashi regulated him to back up status, but that didn't mean that the Uchiha's pride would allow him to completely follow orders.

**Gato's base**

"Where the hell have you been, Ishigaki? Kamatsuchi had to go keep an eye on Zabuza – something _you _were suppose to do." the kunoichi reprimanded, the malice in her voice obvious.

Naruto, staying in Ishigaki's character, applied his killing intent towards the kunoichi, causing here to sweat profusely and even shake slightly. "Did you forget who you were talking to, Kurotsuchi?" He responded, his voice cold as ice. "There is a reason I'm called Iwa's Stone Wall of Silence. Talk to me like that again and you will be silenced – just like your father was. You'll do well to remember that."

"Y-yes, sir." Kurotsuchi slightly stuttered, trying to keep her fear and anger in check.

"Now then, I need you to go and help you're sister." 'Ishigaki' commanded.

"I don't understand. She's capable of keeping an eye on Zabuza on her own."

"While that maybe true, I'm sending you there because I also want you to watch one other – or rather, _two_ others. Apparently, Konoha saw fit to send two Uchihas – one of them so happens to be Fukagu's son, Sasuke Uchiha."

Kurotsuchi's head shot up rather fast upon hearing that as 'Ishigaki' continued, "Don't engage them, simply observe and note everything they do. Do not worry about the prisoner. I will watch her – and before you ask, no, I don't plan on taking advantage of her. She has a nice ass, but I prefer...more experienced women." He said, giving her a strange look that made Kurotsuchi extremely uncomfortable.

Kurotsuchi wanted to tell him to stop ogling her, but decided against it. She didn't want to give him a reason to hurt her or worse...report her to the tsuchikage. Being the granddaughter of the 3rd was something that worked against her and her twin sister. The only reason they were still serving in Iwa's shinobi force was because her grandfather, before he fled, told her and her sister to bide their time by being loyal to the current regime – until the time was right to leave.

"Yes...commander." She bowed before shunshining away to join her sister. After she left, Naruto's face fell. He had seen a few memories involving her and her twin sister, but it was obvious that they hated the current regime and what it stood for. He knew for a fact that the current tsuchikage and the council were looking for any excuse to kill them.

_'I'm sorry I had to do that, Kurotsuchi-san..." _His face then went dark with silent rage._ 'Ishigaki really was a fucking asshole, just like the 4th tsuchikage and the rest of his damn toadies. They're even terrorizing their own ninja.'_ The real Ishigaki was given the order to kill them after completing the current mission. However, it was worse than that; Ishigaki was planning to 'have some fun' with both of them before getting rid of them. This is what made his blood boil.

Deciding not to dwell on it for now, he walked into the room that had Haku captive. Other than a small bruise on her left cheek, Haku looked to be in good condition although she did have her hands and feet tied. She was asleep. Just as Naruto was about to reach out and attempt to free her, Haku's eyes shot open.

"What are _you _doing here?" she demanded, her voice filled with contempt.

"Whoa there, lady. Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you." Naruto held his hands up slightly in defense.

"Just what the hell do you take me for? You threatened to beat me until a told you everything about Zabuza-sama!" She shot back, her voice now raised. "Give me one good reason why I should believe you." Naruto looked at her for a moment before shrugging.

"Ok."

A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared around 'Ishigaki'. When the smoke cleared, Haku was shocked at what she saw. Where the Iwa nin was standing was someone totally different.

The person standing in front of her had blond hair, wore a black skin tight under armour shirt with, had black and teal camouflage pants, and had shin-high shinobi boots (AN: think neo's boots, except the toes are exposed like other ninja sandals). She also noticed that he wore black tight long sleeved fingerless gloves that stopped just below the elbow. There seemed to be small diamond-shaped metal situated where his knuckles are. Finally, she noticed that his hitai-ate had the Konoha symbol.

"...W-who are you?" Haku stuttered in shock. Just what the hell was a leaf ninja doing here?

"My name's Naruto...and I'm getting you out of here."

**Back with the leaf group, 20 minutes later**

"Eight points...larynx, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular vein, subclavian artery, kidneys, and heart. Hmmm...which one should I strike?" came Zabuza's voice, from everywhere, yet nowhere from inside a highly dense fog that he created.

"What the hell is this?" came Kiba's voice, obviously uncomfortable with not being able to see.

"Keep it down, Kiba." Ino quietly ordered. "This is the _Hidden Mist jutsu_ – it's a Kiri jutsu that's designed for a style of assassination called 'Silent Killing'. Naruto-kun mentioned it once when he, Sakura-chan, and I came across the information while inside the mind pool realm. The user doesn't need sight to kill you – not when he or she can use the rest of their senses."

"Hn. Mind Pool...such a worthless bloodline." came Sasuke's condescending voice. Sakura wilted a bit at the comment. She might not have been as bad as Hinata used to be, but her self confidence did take a hit from time to time. While she now hated Sasuke for the part he played in during Naruto's childhood, she knew that he was the Uchiha clan's most prized genin and future clan head. What was she?

"One of you brats is a Haruno?" came a voice from behind – Zabuza's to be exact. They turned to see Zabuza sitting on a medium-sized rock. Sasuke was about to dash towards him to attack when Ino stopped him.

"Stay in formation, Sasuke!"

"I don't take orders from some second rate fangirl from a second rate clan." Sasuke responded, the arrogance in his voice clearly picked up on by everyone else.

"Do not think I will put up with your shit anymore, Uchiha. Take one step out of that formation and you _will_ go up on report." Ino pointed out in an icy tone.

"I'd listen to her, Uchiha brat." Zabuza intoned. "No major village tolerates the kind of attitude you're putting out. Besides, if you do attempt to attack me, I will knock your little arrogant ass out cold, leaving one less person to guard the bridge builder. As for your comment about the mind pool being useless...ever heard of the term, 'Knowledge is power'? Because that's what that bloodline does."

"Wait! How do you know about that bloodline?" Sakura asked despite the situation. Zabuza looked at her and chuckled. _'Pink hair and green eyes...yep, definitely a Haruno.'_

"I was a mist ANBU, kid. It's my job to know who's who, although I will admit that I only know the basics of the bloodline. Chances are, I'll never learn all of its secrets. Be thankful you have that bloodline, pinky. It's one of the few powerful bloodlines that truly can't be obtained or accessed by outsiders."

"Why are you having a casual conversation with us? Aren't you suppose to be trying to kill us?" Ino questioned, her eyes narrowed.

"If you want to get technical, little lady, I'm trying to kill the bridge builder, not you." Zabuza lazily pointed out. "That said, not everything is what it seems. I take it those two out there haven't told you..."

"...told us what?"

"This fight is an act. You may not know it, but your blond teammate, your sensei, and I have come to an accord. In exchange for helping us out of this "cluster fuck" by rescuing my kunoichi apprentice Haku, we've agreed to not go after the bridge builder and join your village." Zabuza informed, shocking the five genin as well as Tazuna.

"Wait...does that mean we're being tailed by those Iwa nins that Tazuna-san mentioned yesterday?" Sakura asked.

"Very sharp, pinky. You might make a good ANBU someday." Zabuza complemented, making Sakura blush, as well as causing Sasuke and Ami to scowl. "Yes, we are being watched by at least one of them at the moment..." the swordsman paused for a moment, before his face formed what looked to be a huge grin. "I stand corrected. The other remaining Iwa kunoichi just showed up."

"Wait – if your friend is being held captive, who's suppose to be guarding her?" Kiba asked, confused. While Inuzukas weren't geniuses by any means, they weren't stupid, either. Leave a prisoner unguarded is a huge 'no-no'.

"The person who _was _suppose to be guarding her was Iwa's Chimmoku no Ishigaki."

Ino and Sakura paled considerably upon hearing that name. Both Inoichi and Somei had warned their kids about certain shinobi from other villages. Ishigaki was near the top of the list mainly due to 2 factors – one, because they are Konoha, and two, he's been known to rape kunoichis who have been captured by him – regardless of age.

"I wouldn't worry about that, though." Zabuza smirked. Everyone looked at him.

"So you killed him...good. Garbage like him doesn't deserve to live." Kiba said.

"While I would've loved to take credit for that...sorry, it wasn't me." Zabuza responded, his grin grew even wider when he saw the confused expressions on the the genins' faces.

"If you didn't...who did?" Kiba asked.

"Here's a hint: who wasn't in your camp the entire time last night?" Zabuza then noticed that the mist was beginning to thin out. "Hmm, looks like it's time to wrap this up. See ya later, gakis." Zabuza's clone then transformed into water before dropping to the ground making a small 'splash' sound.

**In the trees, a quarter mile away – a few minutes earlier**

"Damnit...of all the jutsus, he just _had_ to use that one." Kamatsuchi grumbled to herself. It was hard enough trying to get information from the Konoha group without being detected. The hidden mist jutsu was an absolute nightmare to deal with for most ninja outside of Kiri since they have no experience with using 'silent killing'. The only shinobi in Iwa that could possible pull it off was Ishigaki.

That name sent shiver down her spine. The way he looked at her and her sister, Kurotsuchi, was highly disturbing. She even didn't like the way he eyed their kunoichi prisoner, Haku – which was why the two sisters decided that at least one of them would be guarding Haku at all times. She knew what Ishigaki liked to do with kunoichi prisoners – and it sickened her and Kurotsuchi.

As she watched the huge blob of fog in front of her, hoping that it would clear up soon, she felt a familiar chakra signature coming her way...her eyes widened slightly. _'Oh no...if that's sis, then that means...' _While they did their best to keep Ishigaki away from Haku, he was the commander of the mission, therefor if he ordered Kurotsuchi to assist her, then she had no choice but to obey. She just hoped that Ishigaki became distracted enough not to have time to...best not to think about it. As she put the thought out of her head, her twin sister Kurotsuchi landed right next to her.

"What the hell? Did Zabuza use what I think he used?" Kurotsuchi gasped. Kamatsuchi nodded slowly.

"Yeah...hidden mist jutsu. Those Konoha ninja are going to have a rough time dealing with that, even if one of their jonin is Kakashi Hatake."

Kurotsuchi nodded in agreement. 'Sharingan' Kakashi is well known throughout Iwa, but not just for his skills...but also for who his sensei was.

"That's not all. Their's a genin..." Kamatsuchi started.

"If you've seen one genin, you've seen 'em all." Kurotsuchi deadpanned.

Kamatsuchi shook her head. "You don't understand. _This_ genin isn't normal. First off, he has blond spiky hair and blue eyes..."

Kurotsuchi froze when she heard that description. Seeing that she had her sister's attention, Kamatsuchi continued, "Second, Kakashi asked this kid to be his immediate back-up. What jonin uses a genin as their back up?" she asked rhetorically.

"...I see your point. Is...it possible that the kid is related to Konoha's 4th?"

"Knowing you, you want my opinion...yes...I believe he is. There are rumors that Namikaze had a kid, on the day he died no less..." Kamatsuchi mused. "Before Zabuza put up that damn mist, Kakashi had mentioned that the genin in this group just graduated this year. Also, in Konoha, the age of the graduating genin are almost always 12. Match that up with the night of the Kyubi attack that happened exactly 12 years ago and..."

"...we have Minato's kid right here." Kurotsuchi finished, still in slight awe.

The two sisters sat in silence, muling over what their next move would be. After what seemed like hours of silence, Kurotsuchi finally spoke up.

"Sis...this information must not get back to Iwa."

Kamatsuchi nodded in agreement. "I agree. While I wasn't a fangirl of the 4th hokage, I do respect him for defending the innocent, fire or earth. From what father and grandpa Onoki told me, our current tsuchikage and the council ordered a group of CORE ninja to destroy a civilian village inside fire country. As far as I'm concerned, those CORE bastards got what they deserved when Namikaze cut their asses up in 5 seconds flat."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't say that out loud." Kurotsuchi hissed. "While I share your opinion, we can't be caught saying that. We could be executed!"

"What's the point anyway?" Kamatsuchi shot back. "You know they're planning to kill us anyway. Hell, I noticed that Ishigaki got a scroll the day after we arrived here. Ever since then, he's been eyeing us with his hand on his Ninjato."

"How is that proof of anything?" Kurotsuchi argued.

"That's just evidence. The proof was when I got a view of Gato's payroll. Three things stick out – Zabuza's name isn't on that payroll and _we _aren't on that payroll...but Ishigaki's name _is_ on that payroll."

Kurotsuchi immediately went pale. If what her sister said was true, then at some point... Ishigaki was going to kill them, likely on orders from the tsuchikage. Before she could say anything else, the mist on the battlefield began to loosen up.

"Hey, look alive – the mist is clearing up." Kamatsuchi commented. Sure enough, the two sisters could see the battlefield once more.

**On the battlefield**

"Thanks for the save, Naruto." Kakashi breathed as he had come close to being "killed" by Zabuza's giant decapitating sword, but Naruto used an electromagnetic shockwave to push Zabuza away. It was one of the few moves in his arsenal that didn't actually harm a person. This _is_ a staged fight, after all – it wouldn't do to injure the swordsman since he practically is, as of last night, a fellow Konoha nin.

As Zabuza picked himself off the ground, he then froze for a second, before looking right at Kakashi and Naruto. He then covertly put his hand on a nearby rock, lightly tapping it twice. While this action went unnoticed by Inabi, Kakashi and Naruto picked up on it immediately and gave a barely noticeable nod. The other Iwa kunoichi had arrived and was watching them along with her sister.

Before anyone else could make a move, Inabi took advantage of the brief pause and dashed at Zabuza with his Sharingan active. The ex-Mist shinobi narrowed his eyes at the charging Uchiha. _'The kid's right...this guy's a loose canon, just like his entire clan. Time to take this Uchiha fool down a peg...'_

Just as Inabi reached him, Zabuza suddenly turned to water, causing Inabi to run right through him and fall into the water behind. After a few seconds, Inabi surfaced and started looking for the swordsman. It was then that he noticed something odd.

_'Why the hell is the water so...heavy?' _He got his answer when Zabuza appeared next to him and stuck his hand out towards him and shouted:

"**Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"**

Before Inabi could react, he found himself unable to move. His eyes widened when he realized that he was trapped inside of what looked like a giant water bubble. Naruto and Kakashi mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Inabi had almost screwed the plan up when he let his pride get in the way.

At that moment, Naruto had received a memory from his clone that he sent to rescue Haku...and smiled. _'We still have work to do, but the hardest part of this plan is complete. Now then, it's time we confronted our spectators...'_

Naruto then gave the signal to Kakashi that Haku was no longer in danger and was now being escorted to Tazuna's house. Kakashi understood the signal and nodded. Zabuza didn't react physically other than give a barely noticeable nod, but mentally, he was extremely relieved and had to retrain himself from running over and giving the gaki and the copy ninja a friendly slap on the back for risking their lives to save his daughter.

The three remained silent for a moment. They knew that they need to move quickly to apprehend the two Iwa sisters watching them. Granted, Naruto knew that he could persuade them, but he didn't want to take chances. After all, assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups.

Finally deciding on a plan, Naruto made sure that his back was to the sisters and began signaling Zabuza and Kakashi what his suggestion was. Kakashi and Zabuza nodded slightly, approving the plan. Inabi was thoroughly confused as to why the 3 were communicating with each other using hands signs. He was about to speak up when Zabuza - in one smooth motion - released his water prison jutsu, gave Inabi a light chop to the neck which resulted in him being rendered unconscious, and tossed back towards land.

Inabi landed in front of the genin group that was "guarding" Tazuna with a soft thud. This had surprised the genin, as well as Tazuna himself. According to most stories about the famous swordsman, it was unusual for him to simply knock someone out instead of killing them. What was even more unusual was the fact that Naruto and Kakashi relaxed their stance and did nothing to stop Zabuza from bonking him and throwing him towards them. Before the got a chance to ask what was going on, Naruto, Kakashi, and Zabuza vanished from sight.

**In the trees, a quarter mile away**

"What the hell?" Kurotsuchi and Kamatsuchi both shouted at the same time when all three shinobi vanished from sight. One minute, the three ninja were in a pretty intense battle. The next, the three were standing still, making slight nods to each other. That alone didn't mean too much, but they knew something was up when Zabuza released the Uchiha jonin and knocked him out instead of killing him.

"Since when does Zabuza Momochi send people into dreamland instead of hell?" Kamatsuchi asked somewhat frantically.

"Screw that, I'm more concerned about where they went." Kurotsuchi responded in a slightly calmer tone, although it was obvious that she was slightly on edge.

"You really need to stop believing everything you read that comes out of Kiri these days." came a voice from behind them. The sisters' eyes widened when they realized who's voice it was and spun around to see Zabuza Momochi lazily leaning up against a tree.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kurotsuchi demanded. That's when they felt something cold and sharp resting on the back of their necks. They turned their heads slightly to see who had gotten the jump on them and gasped. It was the blond kid they were watching, as well as Kakashi Hatake, Konoha's copy ninja.

Naruto had a somewhat serious look on his face while Kakashi simply gave them a eye-smile. "Sorry about this, but you're going to have to come with us."

_**Hey guys! I know that it's been a while, but I won't lie – once the holidays showed up, I was so busy trying to entertain family that I forgot to update the story. For that, I apologize.**_

_**Anyway, just in case you didn't read the last post, I have redone the first couple of chapters. It doesn't change too many things, but I did have to redo Cole's past since this story came out before InFamous 2 hit the shelves.**_

_**Happy New Year to everyone and please R&R, thank you!**_


	12. Note from author

Hey guys – I apologize for the slow updates. I just accepted a new job – however, the new job requires that I relocate. As you may guess, this sort of thing will take some time. Don't worry – this story will continue because I honestly love writing fan fiction. Just please understand that it may take me a month or two to get used to my new job and the city's surroundings. Once I've settled down, gotten into a routine, and put aside free time, I will be resuming the story.

Again, I apologize to all of my readers and hope to have a new chapter up once I get used to my new environment.

Thanx for the supports, peeps!

Jrvegeeta


	13. New note from author

Hey guys,

Good news – I'll be resuming the story within a few weeks now that I've gotten used to my new job and the city I currently live in. I will need to re-read parts of my story as a review of sorts just to be sure I don't come back with plot holes, which would deteriorate the quality of the story. Before you ask, yes, I have been keeping up with the manga and I will try and get some of that stuff into the story, but I make no promises since I don't want to have a mary sue in my story (I MIGHT do a story like that in the future, but again, no promises).

Thanx for your understanding and patience (Lord knows I needed it during my last month in my previous city)

Jrvegeeta


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